Skin I'm In
by elliewell
Summary: Roe, the newest member of the Avengers and their secret weapon, is shocked when Loki, god of mischief, is brought to earth with Thor in chains. Can she come to terms with her abilities and her enigmatic feelings for Loki while helping the team complete their mission? Or will she fall prey to Loki and his trickery? Loki/OC. Rated M for later chapters. (My first fanfic ever!)
1. Chapter 1

01

When Roe awoke before the sun on what seemed to be a normal September morning, she stretched and clambered out of bed without much thought of her day. She shuffled to her bathroom, ruffling her short white-blonde hair as she went. The apartment was chilly, as she usually kept it, and she felt goosebumps rising up on her skin while she brushed her teeth.

Spitting out the toothpaste, Roe looked at herself in the mirror, taking in what she saw. At 23 years old, she thought she looked rather typical, aside from her cropped hair that had always been strikingly light. She was short, slight, pale, and had blue eyes that couldn't be described as unique one way or another. She stood up to her full height, which she knew was barely to the shoulder of most those she knew, and sighed, wishing she were in a different skin.

Roe walked back into her bedroom and stripped off her nightclothes, a set of tattered shorts and the hole filled tank that she just couldn't bring herself to throw away. After rifling through her drawers, she found what she was looking for and pulled it all on.

She again looked at herself in the mirror, this one hanging on the back of her bedroom door. She was covered from neck to toes, down to gloved fingertips. Her clothes were light but dense, not revealing a single inch below her throat. She adjusted her outfit, making sure all was well, and pulled on a slouchy beanie, adjusting it so a few wisps of her pixie cut came out the front. Biting her lip, she accepted what she was wearing and steeled herself. She hated leaving the apartment, but Fury had said attendance at the meeting that morning was mandatory.

Roe walked as slowly as she could out of her apartment and into the long, cold hallway that lay in the basement of Avengers Tower, formerly Stark Tower. Her footsteps rang out as she walked to the elevator, and she passed no one. She rarely did; the only other occupants of the underground floors were prisoners, and they were not a common occurrence.

Pushing the cool elevator button, Roe ambled in nervously and pressed the button for the top floor, before going to stand against the back wall, pushing herself into a corner. She hoped she would be alone the entire ride.

Ten floors up, her hopes were dashed, as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Bruce Banner walked in and pressed the same button she had.

"Morning Roe," he said with the tight-lipped smile she knew was his norm.

"Good morning Dr. Banner," she replied, her voice small and unfamiliar to herself. She didn't speak often.

He stood against the opposite wall of her, seemingly on edge. Roe tried not to take offense, knowing that he was almost always that way. "Excited for the meeting?" he asked, trying desperately to make small talk. She wished he didn't.

She just smiled and looked at her feet.

The elevator dinged again and Roe tried to push herself further into the wall as Natasha and Clint climbed aboard. They said a hello to both Roe and Bruce, and calmly continued their conversation. It was hard to unsettle assassins.

The elevator rose and dinged again, and Roe thought she would have to run out of it. Luckily, they had arrived at the top floor and all the passengers got out. She followed them slowly, keeping her distance.

The sun was beginning to rise and shone in brightly through the plate glass windows that stood in for walls on the top floor of the tower. Everything was bright, reflective, and lit the room blindingly.

Roe sat down at the far end of the long glass table in the center of the room, away from the other Avengers who had gathered there. Each of them smiled at her and said good morning, which she returned stiffly, wishing she could just be back in the safety of her own space.

Tony, who had been missing until the very last moment before the meeting was supposed to start, strolled in holding a cup of coffee and still in his pajamas. He slumped down into a chair at the head of the table and grumbled at anyone who tried to wish him a good morning. Director Fury followed him in, looking as though he'd been up for hours. Roe knew it was a strong possibility that he had been.

"Well good morning folks," he said loudly, knocking Tony's feet off the surface of the table. Tony slid down into his chair and huffed, sipping his coffee and rubbing his eyes.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why I've called you in here," Fury continued, pacing the space along the table. Everyone waited expectantly, not altogether thrilled that they had to be up so early. Most were better at hiding it than Tony, but Roe could tell that most of them weren't accustomed to seeing the sunrise.

"We are expecting some guests," Fury said, and Roe sat up a little straighter in her chair. Guests were never something she looked forward to.

Everyone waited for Fury to say who was coming, but he went in another direction with his speech. "As you all may know, we seem to be on the verge of World War Three right now, with new sickos developing technologies we couldn't have dreamed of ten years ago."

Tony scoffed, knowing that he could have thought of them, and Fury ignored him.

"A new threat, who calls himself Napalm, has found himself an army of pissed off misfits who seem all too keen on global takeover. He needs to be taken down."

"Sir, isn't this sort of run of the mill here? We've taken out people like this before without meetings," Steve said, trying to sound as respectful as he could.

Roe could feel everyone's eyes glancing at her and squirmed uncomfortably in her seat, wishing she could disappear.

"Of course we have," Fury replied, placing his palms on the tabletop. "But this guy knows all our secrets, all our weapons." With this, he looked pointedly at Roe, who bit her lip and looked at her gloved hands.

Natasha spoke next. "Sir, we took out people before Roe was here," she looked at Roe, "no offense, so why is this guy any different?"

Fury rubbed his forehead in agitation, his patience thin. "Can I finish?" he asked, though everyone knew he was just making a point. Even Tony didn't challenge him, possibly being too sleepy for it.

Fury stood up tall and clasped his hands behind his back. "Thank you," he said mockingly. "This guy is different because he somehow got a hold of our weapons prototypes, the ones we were developing with the tesseract."

Bruce, normally the most even headed of the group, laughed aloud and shook his head. "And this, this is why you should have never developed them."

Everyone, save Roe, looked like they were about to speak but Fury lifted a hand to stop them before they started. "Be that as it may," he said sternly. "This is a threat we have to squash, and I thought we should have all our resources here with us."

Everyone looked at Roe, thinking Fury meant her. She thought the same thing and cringed inwardly. She didn't want to work with the group, and dreaded it wholly. She'd always been alone on missions, the Avengers' secret weapon, and begged the universe to make such a trend continue.

"Not her," Fury said, and Roe let out a huge sigh. Everyone heard it, and she blushed as Tony smirked down the table at her face.

Fury cleared his throat and looked her square in the eyes. "Though you will be included." And she knew there was no getting out of it. She nodded once and fought the urge to scream.

Roe jumped as the sky above Avengers Tower crackled, and a storm cloud grew. Lightning blazed and thunder rumbled, but only for a few hundred yards out. Roe had never seen anything like it.

"Ah, right on time," Fury said, and he walked towards the glass doors that led outside. Everyone rose to follow, Roe taking up the rear slowly and carefully.

Bruce dropped back to walk with her, keeping a few feet between them. "You haven't met him right?" he asked, his voice even and soothing.

Roe shook her head and watched as a shining portal blazed down from the sky. She covered her eyes wit her arm and squinted, waiting with everyone else.

Bruce smiled. "He's a hugger," he said, and he stepped away from Roe and towards Tony, whispering something to his friend.

Roe shuddered, and waited for what was to come out of the portal. The blinding light faded and two men stood in a scorched circle where it had been. Thor she recognized immediately from team files and from the hammer he held tightly in his right hand. The other man, whose upper arm was being gripped by Thor's other hand, she was nearly sure she knew, though she couldn't quite place his face.

She heard, and then saw, the group's reaction. Natasha pulled her gun from wherever she had hidden it; Clint pulled a small knife from his thigh sheath. Tony and Bruce simultaneously groaned and started arguing with Fury, while Steve moved to step in front of her, ever the gentleman and ever protective.

Fury screamed at them all to shut up. "He couldn't very well leave him on Asgard now could he?" he said, walking forward to shake Thor's hand.

Roe noticed the man beside Thor looked incredibly bored, thought incredibly arrogant at the same time. His hands were cuffed in front of him, the cuffs chained to his waist, which was then chained to more cuffs at his ankles. He had shoulder length black hair, strikingly sharp cheekbones, and was as lean as Thor was bulky. His green eyes calmly caught her own, and she immediately looked to the floor.

Everyone was arguing with Fury, and the sounds of their voices was nearly deafening. Roe stood quietly at the back, trying to remember what she knew of the man.

Loki Laufeyson, adoptive brother to Thor and former enemy of earth. Roe thought back to the bits of news coverage she had seen involving him and bit her lip, wishing such a man wasn't present. She knew where prisoners were kept in the tower.

Fury screamed at everyone to shut up again and Roe looked at him, waiting to see how he would explain Loki's presence away.

"Please, you are grown ass adults!" he said, hands on his hips. Roe smiled at his ferocity. "Loki is here as long as Thor is here and that's all there is to it! I understand that we don't have a great past with him-" he pointedly looked at Clint, who seemed ready to murder Thor's brother. "But that's that."

"And what happens when he escapes?" Natasha asked, still aiming her gun at Loki's head.

"He won't," was Fury's only reply.

Thor smiled at everyone and pushed his brother forward. "He has been fitted with what Director Fury calls a tracking device, which should keep my brother in check." Roe noticed how booming his voice was, and wondered if he always spoke like that.

She looked at Loki's ankle and sure enough, above his shackles, there was a blinking tracking device. She drifted in and out of Fury's explanation that the device would work inter-dimensionally and could only be removed with a specific key (the whereabouts only he knew) and crossed her arms over her chest, knowing that Thor and Loki were coming her way.

Thor let go of his brother's arm to hug everyone and Loki just rolled his eyes at each greeting, looking as though there were many other places he could be. Roe wondered what prison was like on Asgard, knowing that was where Loki was going to spend the rest of his life.

"And who is this?" Thor asked, finally noticing Roe behind Steve. He waited for her answer with a smile on his face, Loki glowering beside him.

Everyone in the group knew Roe's hatred of meeting new people and all began to speak at once, even Tony who was normally all too happy to revel in other people's discomfort. Roe inwardly thanked everyone for the effort, and made a note to not be such a recluse in the future.

Thor laughed, and Loki looked her up and down critically. Roe felt her skin crawl. He caught her eyes again and seemed to be waiting expectantly.

After what seemed like forever, Roe cleared her throat. "I'm Roe," she said simply, quietly.

Thor looked at Fury, who revealed nothing, and back to the small young woman before him. He bowed slightly and reached his hand out for hers, kissing her glove gently. Roe felt a blush flooding her cheeks. She saw Loki roll his eyes again and felt the urge to kick him in the shin.

Dropping her hand, Thor stood back at his full height, which was far above Roe's. He shoved his brother in the shoulder and told him to have some manners.

Loki sighed and gave her a tight-lipped smile and a strained hello, warranting a slap on the back of the head by Fury, who had stepped forward.

"While you're here, you'll treat each and every one on this team with respect," Fury said coldly, trying to put Loki in his place.

Loki stared daggers at Fury while Thor smiled widely at Roe.

"A new Avenger, how exciting," Thor said, and his beaming smile seemed to show he meant it.

Roe smiled at him, her usual close-lipped small smile, and adjusted her gloves.

"Are you cold, Lady Roe? Perhaps we should go inside."

"She's not cold, she-" Tony started before Bruce elbowed him hard in the ribs.

Roe wanted to kill the one and only Iron Man right then and there. She tried to seem calm and said quietly, "I have a skin condition." Thor looked at her quizzically, but she offered no further explanation, hoping to put such a conversation off indefinitely. She remembered how everyone else had reacted to what she was and cringed.

Even Steve laughed at that, and Roe was relieved when a chuckling Fury led them all inside. Loki stared at her over his shoulder, as though trying to figure out why she was present in the group.

Following them all inside, she wondered the same thing, and wished she had just stayed in bed.


	2. Chapter 2

02

A day and a night had gone by since Roe had met Thor and his brother and learned about her involvement in the upcoming mission, and she had spent the hours alone in her apartment, trying to fill the time. She had read and painted, played her piano and cooked enough food to last her a week, and still she was restless. She had gotten only a few hours of sleep before deciding that relaxing was a bust.

At five the following morning, she got out of bed grumpily, wishing her anxiety didn't get the best of her. Natasha had come down late the night before to ask her if it was alright to tell Thor about her abilities, to which she had said yes reluctantly. Better anyone else tell him but her. She knew that the next time Thor saw her, he would be standing slightly away from her, trying to be politely avoidant. She couldn't blame him.

Roe padded softly into her kitchen area, the tiles cold beneath her feet. She was thankful that she had been allowed a full apartment, rather than the typical single rooms that the Avengers had. She was, after all, the only permanent resident of the tower, and Fury had made the decision to treat her as such.

She glanced around her dim apartment as she pulled a variety of fruits and vegetables out of her refrigerator. The walls were lined with bookshelves stuffed to the brim with books she had already read, some tattered and worn from multiple readings. Her piano was pushed against the wall closest to her bedroom, and also had books along the top of it, held in place by heaven iron bookends. Her lone couch rested awkwardly in the middle of the room, facing nothing, as she had no television. Various odds and ends- an easel, a potter's wheel-countless items to depict someone who had countless minutes to waste and a fickle mind surrounded it.

Roe cut up her fruits and vegetables on a worn bamboo cutting board on her counter and placed them in a bowl to wash. Having finished that, she switched on her juicer and started piling produce in, the result being her multicolored and multiscented breakfast.

She thought she heard something and shut the juicer off, watching the last carrot being strained into the receptacle container. There was a heavy banging on the door, and she checked the clock on the wall to see what time it was, wondering who could be at her door so early.

The banging sounded urgent, so Roe stepped quickly to the door, swinging it open without a thought. On the other side of it stood a very irritated Loki.

Roe froze in her spot, realizing immediately that she was in only her shorts and tank top. She took a step back, hiding partially behind the door.

Loki, who stood there in what looked like silk pants and nothing else, was glaring daggers at her. He looked tense and angry from the top of his head down to his bare feet.

"Can you please," he said, teeth clenched, "cease that infernal racket." It wasn't a question. It was a demand. He seemed to realize suddenly who was standing in front of him, and a questioning look flashed across his features for a moment.

Roe opened her mouth to say something, but didn't know what to say. She hadn't realized that Loki was staying on the same floor as her, though, she thought stupidly, as a prisoner there was nowhere else for him to stay. She wondered what his restrictions were, and how he could be free to bang on her door so readily.

Thinking of nothing else, she said quietly, "I'm sorry," and went to shut the door, hoping for a quick retreat.

Loki stopped the door with his hand, and looked into the apartment. Roe held her breath and noticed how his face morphed from angry to an even, calm mask.

"I thought you were a member of this team," Loki said, a hint of mocking in his voice.

Roe knew she couldn't push the door shut with him keeping it open, and knew there was nothing to do but humor him for the moment. She had heard of the god of mischief's ways and didn't want to cross him.

"I am," she replied steadily, though she felt as though she may begin to shake at any moment.

Loki stepped forward, and Roe stepped back, holding onto just the doorknob for dear life. He smirked down at her.

"What could you have done to warrant a stay in the dungeons then?" he mused, looking further into the apartment. He looked immediately like he belonged there, and Roe wondered how a person could be so confidently arrogant.

"They aren't dungeons."

"Below ground, with only prisoners for company? These are indeed dungeons."

Roe bit her lip. "I asked to be put down here."

His green eyes were probing, searching for something that Roe couldn't place. "One must then wonder what that says about you, diminutive Roe."

Roe wanted to both hit him and run, but knew she could do neither. Taking a chance, she tried a third option.

"I'm sorry about the noise, do you want to come in?"

Loki looked genuinely shocked, but stepped inside the door. Roe shut it behind him, knowing that if he did anything wrong, she could just kill him. She didn't think anyone would miss him.

When she turned from shutting the door, he was standing too close to her. She could nearly feel his breath against her bedhead, and saw nothing in her field of view but his bare chest. She immediately sidestepped him and backed herself into the kitchen, sure to not turn away.

Loki walked about the apartment, running his fingers along Roe's belongings without asking. She heard the rifling of pages and the soft tone of a piano key being pressed. She didn't stop him, but began emptying pulp from her juicer, trying to think of what to do.

"What is that thing?" she heard him ask, and when she looked up, she noticed his nose wrinkled in disgust at her being wrist deep in produce pulp. He had his hands clasped behind his back, and looked both regal and intimidating to her. If Roe let herself admit it, which she didn't, she would have realized that he also looked quite attractive.

She dropped the multicolored glob into the garbage bin and scraped the rest out with her fingers. "It's a juicer…for making juice. It's what made the noise…which again I apologize for." She hoped politeness would placate him.

Loki sat on one of the counter stools, his back straight and palms flat on the surface before him. "You are strange," he said, tilting his head to look at Roe. "To allow a man, a man unknown to you and the sworn enemy of your friends, into your home to speak of things such as juice. What would the others think?"

Roe turned away from him for a moment to take two glasses out of her cabinet and then set them on the countertop. She filled each with beet-red liquid and slid one across towards Loki, stopping a foot away from his hands.

"I don't really care what they think," she said, though she knew it wasn't true. She cared deeply what they thought; it was the main reason she avoided them.

Loki looked from her to his glass and back to her. "What is it you want me to do with this?" he asked.

Roe took a sip from her glass and licked her upper lip, knowing that some of the foam from the juice had stuck there. "Drink it, if you like." She took another sip. "I promise I didn't poison it."

Loki picked up the glass in his long fingers and sniffed it. "As if your poisons could harm me," he said snidely, and he took a long gulp. He took his upper lip in his lower to rid himself of the foam and set the glass down. "I suppose it is passable."

Roe laughed in spite of the mild anxiety she still felt and drank her glass quickly, setting it in the sink when she finished. "You really are the ass they say you are," she said, leaning against her refrigerator, her false politeness gone.

Loki took another sip. "I aim to be." His eyes twinkled humorously as he spoke.

Was he joking with her? This man, who had been the catalyst for such destruction, who had personally killed so many? Roe didn't quite know what to make of it.

"Do you drink this for your skin condition?" Loki asked, eyebrows slightly raised and expectant.

As if suddenly remembering how bare she was and how bare Loki was, Roe walked quickly and wordlessly out of the kitchen and into her bedroom. She pulled sweatpants over her shorts and a sweatshirt over her tank top, finishing with thick socks. She emerged moments later with her hands in her pockets, keeping her distance from Loki, who had not moved from his spot. His glass was empty when she returned to the kitchen.

"What type of malady comes and goes so quickly?" Loki asked, challenging her. He calmly picked a stray thread on his pants and looked at Roe, who was visibly less comfortable.

"You should probably go now," she said, and she walked past him and towards the door. She grabbed the knob with a shaking hand, anxious at the prospect of being found out. She should have never let him in, never let him near her. She blamed her lapse of judgment on her serious lack of human interaction for years.

Roe turned the knob and pulled the door towards her, only to be stopped once again by Loki's hand. His arm was stretched out inches from her head, his body inches from her own.

"I will not leave this place until you tell me what is wrong with you, why those who think themselves brave avoid you so blatantly," he said, and Roe knew she was trapped. There were only two possible outcomes.

She looked up at him, and he down at her. His green eyes were bright, challenging, and his lips were curled into a devious smirk. Roe noticed how his black shoulder length hair seemed to struggle to be fall free of his ears, how his cheekbones made his face look harsher than the average man.

She also noticed how his pants hung low on his hips, showing the linear V shape at the base of his stomach, how muscular his chest looked when tense. She mentally slapped herself back to attention.

"Please, just go," she said, nearly begging.

Loki seemed to enjoy her tone and leaned in further. "What would happen if I were to touch you here?" he asked, bringing his finger up to hover inches from her cheek. "Or here?" His fingertips moved to hover above her neck, which was only partially covered by her sweatshirt.

It was do or die, and Roe knew it. "Don't touch me," she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

Loki laughed down at her. "Why ever not, you strange little thing?" He withdrew his hand for a moment but still towered over her, his breath ruffling her hair. "Little Roe, the secret weapon of the Avengers. But why? If only you were in commission when I was in charge of things."

Again, she fought the urge to hit him. She set her jaw, wishing inwardly he would lie on finger on her.

"Well?" Loki said, his voice light. "If you have not got an explanation, there is nothing keeping me from doing this."

He reached forward again, and Roe ducked away from him, missing his fingertips by mere inches.

Loki smiled widely. "I like this game," he said, and he genuinely seemed to.

"Don't," Roe warned again.

"Why not? Will you hurt me?"

Roe looked him square in the eyes and set her shoulders, trying to seem confident. She took a deep breath, mustering all of her courage. "You'll die," she said simply, and she meant it. She just hoped he didn't take it as a challenge.


	3. Chapter 3

**I own nothing other than Roe, my plot, and a serious infatuation with the god of mischief. **

03

"Pardon me?" Loki said, his hand hanging midair as he looked down at her.

Roe stood as tall as she could. "I said," she said, with as much conviction as she could muster. "You'll die."

Loki looked her up and down, as though sizing up her up. She looked far from threatening- her head barely reached his shoulder and her frame was so slight he was sure he could snap her in two- but Loki knew that appearances could be deceiving. He dropped his hand to his side.

"What exactly are you?" he asked, genuinely interested. He wondered how he could use her to escape his lifelong prison term. His eyes bore into hers, nearly hypnotic.

Roe's confidence wavered, and she seemed to know exactly what Loki was thinking. She had been used as a weapon openly for nearly two years, and many years before that in secret, since right after he had been taken from the earth in chains, and knew that he wanted to use her in the same way. She both resented and feared it, knowing that he had the power to control her mind, like he had done to Hawkeye.

"I'm just a person," she said, rubbing her forearm nervously. Why had she ever let him in?

Loki smirked at her and leaned against the door, as though he owned the place. "Just a person," he mimicked. "Just a person who can kill with a single touch."

Roe nodded stiffly, as though that were completely ordinary.

"So that is why the others avoid you, they fear their untimely death."

Loki stepped forward, and stood mere inches away from her. Roe held her breath and stood as still as she could. He leaned down, and Roe could feel his hair on her cheek. It was a strange sensation, closeness, and one she hadn't felt for a decade.

"I do not fear death," Loki whispered, his breath hot against her ear. "Nor do I fear you, diminutive Midgardian. That is why I am better than them, and you. I fear nothing."

Without another word, Loki stepped gracefully away from Roe and swung the door open. He stepped through it and slammed it shut, leaving her completely alone.

Roe locked the door and slid down to the floor against it, panicked tears rushing from her bright eyes. She felt the chill of his body's absence sinking into her skin, and knew that she could never let him, or anyone, so close to her again.

Hours later, after she had regained her calm, Roe took a shower so hot it scalded her skin. She wished, as she usually did, that it would just burn her skin off completely, and rid her of the curse that she was forced to live with. She ran her hands over her body, the only hands that could touch her without fatality, and sighed.

It had been ten years since another person had been able to touch her skin normally, and Roe had forgotten what it felt like. She tried to remember the feeling of being hugged on a warm summer day or being tickled by her parents, but no memories entered her mind, no comforting thoughts.

Clear in her head, however, was the first time someone had touched her and died, their heart having stopped immediately upon contact. Roe had stopped crying over the memory a long time ago and only visited the thought somberly, respectful of those she had killed.

The first had been her sister, grabbing her arm to keep her from tripping down the stairs. Roe shut her eyes and remembered the look of pure shock and confusion as her sister fell, dead by the time she reached the bottom step.

The second had been her mother, hugging her to comfort her. The third had been her father, pulling her away from her mother's body. She had, inexplicably, killed her entire family in a matter of minutes, and stood alone, surrounded by their corpses, sobbing and screaming. They had been the last ones who Roe had let touch her.

Not knowing what she had done, Roe had gathered everything she could in a backpack and ran as far away as she could before someone realized her terrible error. She was thirteen and terrified, fleeing a problem she couldn't begin to understand.

She had run and run, and only stopped when a younger, two eyed Nick Fury had ushered her into the protection of SHIELD, where she learned to keep herself hidden and safe.

Roe turned off the water and stood in the shower, letting the cool air dry her. She thought of her first training session, where she had been shown how to defend herself. Fury had come at her, covered from head to toe, and taught her to fight with every inch of skin she could.

She had become his secret weapon then, traveling the world and removing threats quietly at the age of fifteen. She had been in secret for years and years, until the destruction of Manhattan when Fury thought she should finally come to light. At twenty-three, she had killed over a hundred people, most of which were deemed dangerous by SHIELD. She resented herself for it but knew it was all she was capable of, all she was meant for. She wondered, as she often did, if she should kill herself.

Roe stepped out of the shower and dragged a course towel over herself, removing every last drop of water. She looked at herself in the mirror and ran her hand over her midsection, where linear scars littered her otherwise flawless skin. Each one represented one person she had killed and were self inflicted, a reminder that no death comes about without pain.

She shook her head of all negative thoughts and wrapped the towel around herself, stepping out of the bathroom and into her bedroom, where she dressed herself from head to toe. She didn't want to leave the apartment, but she knew that if Loki came back, she wouldn't be able to stand up to him without consequence. She knew he was not the kind of man to let things go.

Roe wrapped a thin scarf around her neck and pulled a beanie onto her head as she walked towards her door, out into the hall, and up to the top floor to face whatever could lie there.

Down the hall, in his room, Loki stood staring into nothingness, pondering Roe and what she could mean to him. She could be used as a powerful weapon, placed under his control easily. She could destroy the Avengers and bring him to his proper place in the universe, above the rest of the population.

He had only to collect her for his own.


	4. Chapter 4

**I own nothing other than my character Roe, my plot line, and the hope that one day I will wake up an Avenger.**

04

When Roe arrived upstairs, no one but Bruce had been present. He sat at the long glass table with papers strewn about in front of him, doing research into what could be Napalm's weaknesses. He glanced up when Roe walked in and motioned for her to sit with him, something she only did because she knew the doctor faced the same loneliness that she did due to his alter ego.

"Good morning doctor," she said, lowering herself into a chair across from him. She tried to read the papers upside down, but had trouble deciphering his handwriting that covered the pages in multicolored inks.

Bruce saw her trying to read them and pushed some papers over. "Sleep well?" he asked, knowing that Roe often had nightmares much like his own.

She shrugged. "As well as I usually do. I had a visitor early this morning."

She wondered if she should have kept that to herself, but she knew that if she was to tell anyone who would not overreact, it was the seemingly hyper-serene Bruce.

"Oh?" he said, eager for a distraction from the notes before him.

Roe bit her lip and tapped her gloved fingers on the tabletop. "Yeah, the god of mischief himself."

Bruce stilled and inspected her face, trying to figure out what had happened without actually asking. He couldn't. "I knew that not keeping him completely locked up was going to be a problem," he said. "Fury will have him shut in, don't worry."

Roe was surprised at herself when she realized that she didn't want him to be shut away completely. She hadn't had real company in far too long and wanted more, apparently even if she didn't enjoy it.

"No, I mean, it wasn't bad. Not really."

Bruce peered at her over his glasses, disbelieving. "Well what happened?"

Roe thought of the best way to word it. "My juicer woke him up…and I gave him juice…and we talked and he left and that was it."

"Talked about what?"

"Oh, uh, he asked what I am, why you all avoid me."

Bruce's face fell. He reached a hand across the table and patted Roe's covered hand. "Roe, we don't want to avoid you. You just seem…more comfortable that way. You're so anxious with any of us around."

Roe looked at his hand, which he kept near her own. "I just don't want to hurt anyone," she said quietly, and the sadness was obvious in her voice. She didn't know how to be around people, how to function normally in a group or in the realm of friendship.

Bruce smiled sadly at her. "I know how you feel," he said, and she knew he did. "But if people are willing to take the risk, who are we to hide ourselves away?"

She hadn't thought of anyone being willing to risk being near her. Roe had sought refuge in her own space and filled her time with solitary pursuits, never once thinking that anyone would want to be around her. She wondered if Bruce was just being nice.

"What did you tell Loki?" Bruce asked, snapping Roe out of her thoughts.

"I told him that if he were to touch me, he'd die. I didn't think I should sugarcoat it…in case he tried to touch me."

Bruce laughed. "I'm sure most here would have wished he had, though I'm not positive there would even be negative effects. He and Thor are, after all, impervious to nearly everything. Maybe you would only injure them." He was lost in thought for a moment. "Did he say anything else?"

Roe shook her head, trying to dispel the thought that Loki wanted to use her for anything.

The doors slid open and Bruce leaned back into his seat, withdrawing his hand from beside Roe's. Thor walked in with Steve, both wearing clothes that any average man would. They looked ridiculous because of their enormous sizes, but could pass as normal if they tried.

Saying hello, they sat at the table, Steve next to Bruce and Thor next to Roe. Steve looked perplexed at Roe's presence but didn't say anything.

Roe felt the massive presence of Thor beside her and looked at him shyly, smiling.

"Good morning Lady Roe," he said, beaming. "The others have told me that you rarely grace them with your presence, but I can see already that they are mistaken."

"Not so mistaken," Roe replied, glancing at Bruce. "I'm sick of hiding in the dungeons." Why did she call the ground floor that? Loki, he had said that.

The three men laughed.

"Well," Steve said. "It's good to see you." He flashed her his winning smile and started looking over the papers that Bruce had, speaking quietly with the doctor.

Roe turned to face Thor. "Is that all they told you?" she asked him, and his expression turned slightly grave.

"They told me about your affliction," he said, his blue eyes sad. "And what it has taken from you."

Roe nodded, both relieved she didn't have to tell him and disappointed that she couldn't keep it a secret.

Thor spoke again, his voice low to create some semblance of privacy. "I do not think you should allow yourself to feel guilt for it, or be hidden away in solitude, Lady Roe. We must all accept the burdens we have been given and move forward through life with them. We must bear them, but not bear them alone."

Roe smiled at him, knowing that he was as good a person as she had met in many years. Thor patted her small hand with his gigantic one and turned to discuss Napalm with Steve and Bruce.

Roe looked at her hand, which had had more contact in a half hour than in years. She curled her fingers into a fist and smiled, knowing that she couldn't avoid the Avengers any further. It was time for her to live in their odd society.

Nearly an hour later, after much discussion over Napalm and how the team could attack him had transpired, the fours Avengers at the table looked up at the sound of the door opening. Natasha and Clint walked in, followed by the surprisingly Midgardian-dressed god of mischief, who looked at though he wished to kill the both of them. Roe chanced a long look at him, from his black leather shoes to his neatly pressed black trousers to the white button down he wore. She wondered where he had gotten the clothes, and who had made him wear them.

Natasha dropped herself gracefully into a chair at the table and Clint followed suit. "Fury doesn't want him down there all day on his own," she said, and everyone understood that this was to keep him in check, rather than to be courteous.

Roe felt his eyes on her as he walked past the table and to the bookshelf on the other side of the room. She glanced up and saw him looking at her openly as he sat down in one of the plush armchairs. She felt a blush rising in her cheeks and looked away, focusing instead on the group she sat in and the topic they were discussing.

After several minutes, Tony strolled in and joined them. He, as usual, was impatient and didn't want to wait to attack Napalm, preferring rather to rush in with guns blazing. The group began to argue different plans and Roe just sat back and listened.

"We need to plan this well, we don't even know where he is right now," Steve said, trying to be the combative voice of reason.

"Fury has all of SHIELD's intelligence searching for him," Natasha said evenly, ever protective of her director.

"Well he was last seen in Toronto of all places, so why don't we go there ourselves and seek him out," Tony nearly shouted, trying to speak over everyone else.

Clint just shook his head and sighed, not even trying to get a word in edgewise.

"Maybe the weapons are giving off the same gamma radiation as the tesseract had," Bruce offered, which set off a whole new argument of options and what needed to be done.

Roe wondered if she should have just stayed in her apartment, feeling as though she wasn't much help. At least, she thought, she wasn't alone.

She looked around the room, from her arguing comrades to the midday autumn sky, and finally to Loki, who was smirking behind steepled fingers in his seat.

Natasha shouted that everyone needed a break and they all got up quickly, moving in many different directions, eager to dispel their annoyance with each other. Roe was left sitting at the table alone. She glanced at Loki again, and he tilted his head slightly, beckoning her over to him.

Unable to stop herself, Roe stood up and walked carefully over, sitting in a seat a few feet from his own.

"My, how they do argue," Loki said, looking far more comfortable than she did. His hands gripped the arms of his chair lightly, long fingers tapping at intervals, and he crossed his right leg over his left, leaning back further into the seatback. "And what do you think of it, little Roe?"

She wished he would stop calling her little. It wasn't her fault that she was smaller than average and he was larger than average. She looked around the room and saw that no one was watching the two of them sitting in such proximity.

"I don't know," she said honestly. She had never been one to plan, only execute the plan.

"You must have a mind in that head of yours," Loki continued, his eyes holding hers. "One cannot survive in such a world without some semblance of intelligence."

Roe scowled and pulled her gloves off. Her hands were beginning to sweat. Laying the gloves on the arm of the chair, she looked at her fingers and started to pick at her cuticles. She didn't notice Loki leaning forward out of his chair.

He plucked her gloves away from her and held them in his hands, turning the faux leather over, running his fingers along the material. Roe stiffened and kept herself from demanding them back, knowing that it would only entertain him.

"Do you want me dead?" Loki asked, leaning back into his chair. He laid the gloves on his thigh and Roe had the fleeting though of her hands filling them there.

"No," she replied honestly, before she could stop herself. She couldn't quite place why, but she didn't even want him to leave her alone.

Without skipping a beat, Loki spoke again, his green eyes unwavering as they bore into her own. "Give me your scarf," he said confidently.

Roe went to undo her scarf without a thought. She had removed it from her neck before she paused and glared at him. She was immediately furious and wrapped it back into its place, knowing that he had been able to sway her mind so quickly.

Roe stood and stepped over to him. She leaned down and slowly pulled her gloves off his thigh, sure to scrape her nails along the fabric of his pants as she went. She brought her mouth an inch from his ear and felt him still. Knowing that he was cautious around her caused her such joy that she had to fight to keep a straight face.

"Come into my head again," she whispered, her warm breath against his ear and her face nearly touching his, "And I will kill you so slowly you'll wish I had just touched you."

The other Avengers, who had reassembled in the room, saw Roe's proximity to Loki and watched the two of them, holding their breath collectively. They saw her stand up tall again and walk away from the god of mischief, pulling on her gloves as she went.

Roe walked out of the room and then nearly ran to the elevator once the doors were shut, desperate to be alone for a while. She didn't see what the others saw, which was Loki with a wide smile spread across his face.


	5. Chapter 5

**I own nothing other than Roe, my plotline, and the constant wonder of what happens when Hawkeye runs out of arrows.**

05

In her room, Roe sat angrily at her piano in a pair of spandex running shorts and a sports bra. She had tried to work out in her apartment to dispel some of the anger she felt but, after two hours of it, was still irritated and gave up. She often used working out as a stress release effectively, but the issue of Loki was too bothersome to get rid of so easily. She needed more.

Bending over the piano keys, Roe began to play furiously, a quick, complicated tune that would have baffled many attempting it. Losing herself in the music, she began to relax and slow, putting herself wholly into it. She played until her fingers ached, and then played some more, pushing past the wall of exhaustion.

Roe's mind, which had been completely consumed in the music, began to wander, and the melodies changed. She thought of how stupidly hopeful she had been when she actually had someone to talk to and how apparently misplaced her need for companionship was. She resolved to continue in her self-sufficiency, to not need anyone to be content, and began playing her favorite song, one that her mother had played for her when she was a little girl.

The slow, rising and falling sounds of Claire De Lune filled the apartment, and Roe felt tears threatening as she tried to remember how her mother looked as she played it. The keys grew wet as she finished the song, knowing that she couldn't recall the memory of her mother in her mind.

Roe stood and slammed the piano cover down. She ran her hand through her hair and sighed, wishing she could be any other person on the planet, in the entire universe.

There was a rap on the door, and Roe went to answer it without hesitation. Her mind was elsewhere and didn't consider what she was wearing or how she would look to anyone with her red eyes and messy hair.

Roe swung the door open and immediately tried to shut it again, only to be stopped by a strong hand.

"I was told I need to apologize to you," Loki said, a hint of mocking in his tone.

Roe stood with her back against the back of the door. "Accepted," she replied hastily. "You can go now."

The door pushed against her, moving her easily. Loki looked around it and stepped inside, and Roe fleetingly wondered if he was like a vampire and could now enter her apartment whenever he wished. She felt powerless to stop him, short of killing him.

Loki opened his mouth to say something clever but stopped when he saw Roe. Her eyes were shut tightly, wishing he would just leave her alone, and so she didn't see his gaze traveling over her body from head to toe.

He took in her disheveled hair, her cheeks that were puffy and red from crying, her bare skin that had goosebumps forming from his presence and the change in temperature in the room. Finally, his eyes settled on her stomach, which was covered in crosshatched scars, all of which were too precise, too carefully laid out, to have been acquired in battle.

Without wanting to, Loki felt a pang of sadness for the young woman before him, a feeling of solidarity for her situation. He too was nearly alone in the universe, with only his mother and his dim oaf of a brother to care for his wellbeing. He felt the urge to reach out and touch her, but knew that was the one thing he couldn't do.

Roe opened her eyes after taking a deep breath and saw Loki's eyes lingering on her midsection. She wrapped her arms around herself without hesitation and sidestepped him, walking quickly away into her bedroom. She contemplated locking herself inside but loathed the idea of him being left unsupervised with her things. She resolved instead to pull on a shirt, hiding the scars away. She stopped herself from putting on anything more, feeling comforted that he couldn't get near her.

When she emerged, Loki was still standing where she had left him.

"Is there something that I can help you with?" she asked, hoping she sounded rude. She fought the urge to pull the hem of her shirt down anxiously.

Loki stepped further into the apartment, abandoning his spot by the shut door. He hesitated as he went, as though he couldn't find a place suitable. He turned to look at her.

"Why do you do such a thing to yourself?" he asked, and if Roe deluded herself, she could say that she heard concern in the question.

She didn't answer, but stood leaning against her piano with one leg crossed over the other at the ankle, hoping to look relaxed.

Loki waited, and then continued when he received no answer. "Do the others know what you have done?"

Roe contemplated not answering, but knew that Loki could use the information against her. She didn't want to have to see a shrink and so decided to humor him until he left.

"No," she stated simply.

"Answer me why," Loki commanded, and Roe waited to feel the pull of him in her mind.

There was no sensation of him there. "Are you going to manipulate it out of me?"

Loki looked irritated with her and shook his head. "I don't have to."

"And why's that?" Roe tried to continue her façade of comfort but felt it slipping.

"You haven't anyone else to talk to."

Roe accepted sadly that he was right, and felt the need to have someone to talk to in the back of her mind, trying to push itself forward. She wondered if she would ever have another chance to speak with someone about it without them forcing her into therapy.

She sat down on the edge of the piano bench, and Loki lowered himself onto her couch, sitting back as though he belonged there.

Taking a deep breath, Roe let herself speak about something she hadn't told anyone. "They are to remind me of what I've done, who I've killed."

"Trophies," Loki replied, as though it were obvious, crossing one leg over the other.

Roe scowled at him. "No, not trophies. Penance."

He looked at her as though she was a strange new species he had never encountered. She supposed she was. "Why feel guilt for what you are? Why not embrace it?"

Roe knew that he operated under that pretense, accepting what you are and becoming the best of it. It was why he had tried to massacre the Jotunheim, why he had tried to reduce the human race to subjugation.

"Not all of us are proud of taking lives Loki."

"Do they not treat you as a hero for what you do, this organization of killers?"

Roe bit her lip, and wished he didn't ask her such questions. They bothered her because they were questions she wondered at herself.

"Most just treat me like walking death, a constant specter of their mortality."

Loki's lips twisted into a wide smile. "Oh, I like that," he said, and Roe could tell by his voice that he really, truly did.

"Glad I can be entertaining to you." Roe's voice was sad, weighed down by it.

"Why are you so unable to appreciate your ability? I would be ever so grateful for it."

Roe stood abruptly and walked over to where he sat. Without thinking, she placed her hands on either side of his head and leaned her face down to inches from his. He was still, his eyes on hers.

Careful of her hands and arms and face, she rested her bare legs against his, which were protected beneath his trousers. "You want me," she whispered into his ear, "to appreciate never being able to feel another person's skin against mine without feeling the warmth, the life leave it? To appreciate the solitude that it has forced me into? To appreciate…knowing that I've killed my entire family, the only people who will ever love me? You want me to appreciate that?" She looked at his skin, pale and smooth and so close to her own. "You want me to appreciate the fear you have, just from having me close to you? If I were to stumble right now, were to brush a fingertip against your neck, you would cease to exist, and I would have another cut to remind me of exactly what I am and all I am good for. So no, I don't appreciate it, on any level. If I weren't such a coward I would have ended myself years ago."

Loki listened to her whispered speech quietly, as still as his body could manage. He looked at her face, her neck, her arms, and took in the beauty of her flawless skin, the danger of it. He wanted to use it.

"Imagine," Roe said, finality in her voice as though she were ready to really hit home. "Imagine your mother coming to hug you, and dropping dead at your feet instead. Imagine never being able to touch her again, to feel the brush of her lips on your cheek or her reassuring hand on your arm. Imagine her avoiding you for fear of a single touch. I know you love her, if no one else, so imagine if she were gone from you, and then think of how grateful you would be."

Loki's breath caught in his throat at the thought of Frigga, and how she had greeted him with open arms regardless of any indiscretion. He thought of her cheek against his when she hugged him, the only woman whom he had loved, whom he had allowed to be near him. If she, the doting, affectionate woman who raised him, were no longer able to be near him or worse, dead because of him, how would he feel?

He was surprised at himself when he felt the want of using Roe leaving him, replaced by a deep sadness for her. Such emotions were not normal for the god of mischief, not something he condoned. He tried to push them away but couldn't.

Loki reached forward with both hands and moved them to rest on Roe's waist, not looking at her face. She stiffened immediately at his closeness, and he could feel her fingers gripping the couch cushion.

"Trust me, if only for a moment," he said, and he spanned her waist with his long fingers, gripping just under her ribs. He felt heat coming through her shirt, a heat that his own skin never could muster. His thumbs rested on her ribs, and he could feel her breaths sharpen and shorten, nervous at his touch.

He looked at her face out of the corner of his eye. She looked terrified, and he wondered if she was more afraid of him or of hurting him. "Lean into my hands," he said, and she looked at him like he was utterly insane.

"Excuse me?"

"Lean into my hands, remove your own from their vice grip."

Roe scoffed. "You're insane." She tried to push herself up, to pull away from him, but he held her in place.

"That may very well be true, but I will not remove my hands from you until you do as I say." There was something in his eyes, in his tone, that Roe couldn't place, but she knew that she was trapped. If she didn't do as he said, she could struggle, but that could only end one way. He knew this, and knew she didn't want another death on her hands.

Shutting her eyes tightly, Roe relaxed her arms but held them in place. His hands were tight against her, and she felt warmth in her stomach that she couldn't identify. She could feel the chill from his fingers through her shirt, and wondered if his skin ever got warm or if it stayed that way because of whom he really was.

Taking a deep breath and opening her eyes, Roe let go of the couch but held her bare arms aloft, careful not to get near his body with them. Loki's hands supported her full weight and pushed her upright as he stood easily, the strength of his lean form apparent.

He raised his hands from her. "Put your arms around my back," he said, and Roe did as he said, too shocked to protest. She was so short her arms rested on his waist, her head at the middle of his chest.

Loki pulled her against him and wrapped his shirt-covered arms around her, pulling her into an embrace. She stiffened at first but relaxed into it, resting her head against his chest. He held his head erect, not chancing touching his neck or chin to any part of her.

Roe hadn't felt a hug, or any kind of closeness, for years, and the sensation of it was flooding her body, reminding her of what it felt like to be a person rather than just a body. She felt as though she may cry, or scream, or laugh, or do all three at once, but fought to keep herself calm.

"Thank you," she said, surprised at herself and at Loki. She didn't know what had happened to bring them to that point, but was happy it had. She felt emptiness as he pulled his arms away from her, holding them carefully out and away from her exposed skin.

He sidestepped her and walked towards the door, feeling the same emptiness. He didn't know what had come over him and didn't know if he resented it or not.

"It will not happen again," he said quietly, and as he opened the door and walked into the hallway quickly, he knew that he wished nothing more than to be wrong.


	6. Chapter 6

**I own nothing other than Roe, my story, and an all-engulfing envy that Black Widow can kick so many butts and still have perfect hair.**

06

Roe had slept that night better than she had in many months, and was surprised when she woke up that her rest had been dreamless. Without her usual nightmares to haunt and exhaust her, she climbed out of bed quickly and got ready for the day without hesitation.

She thought of the enigma that was Loki, and of what had happened between the two of them the day before. She tried to accept one version of him, either the villain or the misunderstood victim, but knew that both were true at times and utterly false at others.

As Roe showered and got dressed, made her breakfast (whole fruit so as to be quiet), and checked herself over in the mirror, she couldn't stop thinking of Loki and the embrace that they had shared. She wondered what exactly she was feeling for him, having never felt anything for anyone before due to her fear of hurting them, and thought of how hopeless any emotion for the man could be. She sighed and tried to dispel the thoughts from her head, which she left uncovered for the day, too warm for a hat.

Roe walked out of her apartment more comfortably than she had in the past, knowing that spending time upstairs with the others was not the frightening experience she had expected it to be. She took the elevator alone to the top floor and stepped into the huge room to find everyone had already arrived, early risers for once. The Avengers all sat at the table in different conversations, while Loki sat in his usual seat, reading a book. He didn't look up when she walked in or when she sat down at the table, and Roe wondered if he was going to avoid her for the rest of his stay. The thought deflated her instantly.

"Well good morning sunshine," Tony said from the head of the table. He must have had several cups of coffee in him to even be speaking, for which Roe was grateful.

"Good morning," she replied quietly. She removed her gloves and set them on the tabletop, leaning back into her seat to be comfortable.

"Let's begin," Natasha said, laying out files in front of her. "Thanks to Bruce's idea of tracking the weapons, we've been able to pinpoint Napalm's base to a compound in Wyoming, of all the places he could have chosen. We have," she pulled photographs out of a file, "aerial shots of the base, and what we are facing." She handed them around the table, pushing Roe's across the glass to her with careful fingertips. "It's not clear whether or not Napalm is actually there, but there seems to be a large concentration of his army in this place, preparing for whatever attack."

"Why is he basing himself in the United States?" Steve asked, looking over the photo in his hands. "Why not somewhere he's less likely to be caught and prosecuted?"

"It's not clear yet why he is stationing here, but what's clear is how prepared his troops are."

"Who are his troops?" Roe asked quietly, her eyes darting over the heat signatures on her own photo. "Who do they mean to target?"

Natasha pressed her lips together. "That isn't completely clear either. His actions in the past seem to be bent towards anarchy, towards removing government powers for the purpose of societal breakdown."

There was a low chuckle across the room and everyone's head whipped around to see Loki, who had set his book down and was rubbing his forehead.

"Brother, do you have something to say?" Thor asked, before anyone else could rudely interject.

Loki looked at them all, except for Roe, whom he pointedly avoided. "Do you think that a man would go so far out of his way for the sake of anarchy? That he would risk imprisonment or death for anyone but himself to be in power?"

Hawkeye gripped the arm of his chair tightly, his hatred for Loki still apparent. "What do you think he's planning then?" he asked, his teeth clenched.

"Hostile takeover, of course. A takeover I am sure he plans to begin with you, as he has your weapons. He will begin with you and end with himself in power, when all else has been destroyed."

"What makes you think he can beat us?" Tony asked, sounding rather bored.

Loki looked at him like he was a moron and continued. "If he knows about your mechanized weapons, I am quite sure he knows about all of your weapons, and how to manipulate them." He finally looked at Roe, and everyone else did too.

She glanced from face to face, trying to decipher what her team members were thinking. She finally looked at Loki, who had begun to inspect his long fingers with great interest.

"What do I do?" Roe asked, her voice quivering slightly. She wasn't afraid of the threat of Napalm, but rather the eyes and thoughts on her.

"You stay hidden," Thor said surely, looking around at his comrades. "You stay safe." They all looked as though that were the only option.

Roe couldn't accept it. "I'm supposed to be fighting with you," she said, a hint of pleading. "Not hiding away in the basement."

"Until we know what his plans are, that's all you can do," Natasha said, finalizing it.

Roe opened her mouth to protest but was shocked to hear Loki's voice instead.

"If she wants to fight, she should be allowed to fight," he said, his voice far more even than Roe's would have been. "He can find her in the dungeons of this place just as easily as he can find her on the battlefield."

Roe stared at him, her mouth slightly open in shock. He was defending her? She couldn't figure the man out.

"Listen reindeer games, we don't need your opinion," Tony said, sneering at Loki.

Loki leaned forward in his seat. "You needed them a moment ago."

"How do we even know if he was on the up and up about that? This could be another one of his plans," Hawkeye snapped, staring daggers at the god who had controlled his mind.

"My brother is not a complete and utter cur," Thor said, standing to defend Loki.

"Everyone calm down," Bruce urged, his face serene though Roe knew something was likely brewing inside of him.

All of the Avengers stood and started to argue about the situation at hand, once again unable to get through a single day without confrontation. Roe wondered if they would ever get along well enough to be an actual team.

She tried to drown out the conversation, to just wait until it was over. Sitting in her seat, she glanced over at Loki, who had gone back to reading his book, looking absolutely bored.

"Why don't we just set Roe on him and be done with it?" Hawkeye's voice rose above the others.

Roe's head snapped up to look at the group, who had all stilled. Hawkeye realized what he had said and started to apologize, and everyone went from glaring at him to looking at her as though she were incredibly fragile.

Without a word, Roe stood and left the table, walking quickly from the room and into the hall. She didn't bother with the elevator, but ran down every single flight of stairs until she reached the basement, legs sore and lungs burning. She pushed into her apartment and screamed, both in frustration and in pain.

She collapsed onto her couch and stared at her bookshelves, hot tears rolling down her cheeks. She didn't want to be "set" on anyone, let alone the only person who had tried to comfort her in years. She loathed Hawkeye for what he said, and the others for not immediately going against it, as well as the plan to keep her hidden away until Napalm could be defeated. She felt as though her fears of being just a weapon were being confirmed, and didn't know what to do.

There was a soft knock on the door.

"Leave me alone," Roe shouted, her lips cracking and her voice shaky.

The knocking continued.

Roe wiped her cheeks and stomped angrily to the door, swinging it open with too much force.

Loki stood on the other side of it, looking down at her with a strange expression. He didn't say anything to her, but held out her gloves, which he grasped gently in his long fingers. Roe reached forward and took them, careful to not brush her fingers against his, and noticed how he didn't stiffen or retract at all.

"Thank you," she said, biting her lip. She pulled the gloves on, and looked at her hands, not knowing what else to say.

"Might I come in?" Loki asked, without a hint of his usual authoritative tone.

Roe moved aside to let him in without thinking, and shut the door behind him. He was, she accepted, the only one she could see at the moment, all others being very high on her shit list.

Loki stood with his hands clasped behind his back, wearing an outfit much like he had the previous day. "Are you alright?" he asked, and he seemed genuinely concerned, as far as Roe could tell.

"Are you?" she replied.

Loki smiled, his teeth flashing quickly. "I am hardly lacking in death threats these days," he said, his voice light. He ran a long finger along the back of the couch. "I am sorry, truly, for what he said."

Roe crossed her arms over her stomach, more for comforting herself than defensiveness. "Why?"

Loki lowered himself onto the couch and crossed one leg over the other. "They should not speak so plainly of something they do not understand, as though it is easy for you."

"Yesterday you thought it was easy for me, envied me."

Loki smiled again, and Roe felt her knees weaken. "Yes, well, yesterday I knew not who you are."

She wondered if her face displayed her shock. "And you do now?"

"I am beginning to," he replied simply, and he looked away from her and around the room. He hesitated, and then spoke again. "If I were to die," he said, thinking carefully on his words. "I think that doing so by your touch would be by far the most pleasant way to go." His eyes were light, playful.

Roe smiled in spite of herself and rolled her eyes. She walked over to her piano and perched on the edge of the bench, not knowing what to say.

Loki spoke instead. "That is an instrument, is it not?"

Roe nodded.

"Play for me." His commanding tone was back and Roe bit her lip before swinging her legs under the piano.

"What do you want to hear?" she asked, not looking at him. She pushed the cover back and cracked her knuckles, a habit she had been meaning to break for years.

"Play me your favorite song." Loki rested his head against the back of the couch and shut his eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Roe pulled off her gloves and began to play Claire de Lune softly, losing herself in it. She shut her eyes as she played, opening them every so often to glance over at the god of mischief seated on her couch.

Halfway through the song, she peeked over at him and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw him sitting beside her on the bench. She hadn't heard him approach, heard him sit down.

"He's not real," said a voice from across the room. Loki sat on the couch, his eyes still closed. "I want to see your hands."

The Loki illusion flickered as she ran her hand through his stomach. She shrugged, accepting it, and turned back to the piano. She began again, knowing that an interrupted song was no song at all. She kept her eyes closed the entire time, playing each note with feeling and precision. When the final note had been played, she opened her eyes to find the Loki illusion had gone, only to be replaced by the real thing standing beside the bench.

"More," he said, looking down at her.

"Why?"

"I want to hear more."

"But why?" Roe didn't understand where his sudden interest had come from, and felt mildly uncomfortable with it. No one had heard her play since her parents had died.

"Because," Loki started, thinking. "You are not a weapon."

Roe stared at him and tried to figure him out. His face revealed nothing, the perfect mask of indifference.

"What do you want from me?" Roe asked, her fingers gripping the bench on either side of her.

"For you to play on."

"No. That's not what I mean and you know it. You aren't stupid. What are you doing here, listening to this and hugging me and bringing me my gloves? What are you playing at?"

Loki's mask slipped for a moment but Roe couldn't figure out his expression. She wished she had spent more time with people over the years.

"You are the one person I cannot touch, and the only person that I have any desire to." He adjusted his cuffs, not looking at her.

Roe thought she might fall off the bench. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me well enough." Still he averted his eyes.

Roe slid out from the bench and stood facing him, their bodies a foot apart. Her hands were at her side, cautious, his clasped in front of him, caution thrown to the wind.

"You aren't supposed to be this way," Roe said, looking up at him.

"What way is that?" He looked down at her, not breaking their eye contact.

"Not…evil. You're supposed to be easy to hate, not understanding or…kind."

Loki smiled. "No one has ever called me kind before this day," he said. "But perhaps I am not the man you have been told I am, just as you are not the weapon I have been led to believe you are."

"You killed a lot of people."

"As have you."

Roe bit her lip, and knew that without knowing every bit of his story, she could not judge the man before her. She hadn't wished to touch someone so badly in her life, and clenched her hands together behind her back to keep from doing something stupid.

Loki reached a tentative hand forward and laid it on her upper arm. He ran his fingertip over her shoulder to just before her shirt ended, and sighed.

"It is a strange feeling," he said, removing his hand. "To think that kissing you is worth my death."

Roe's breath caught in her throat and she felt an incredible sadness washing over her, coupled with an incredible longing. She reached her hand out and touched Loki's arm, covered by his shirtsleeve. When he didn't withdraw, she moved her hand to his waist, his hip, and the small of his back. It was excruciating for her.

Loki's eyes were shut, his face pained. Roe pulled her hand away and began to walk away, only to be stopped by his strong grip on her forearm. His bare hand was inches from her own and she looked at him pleadingly, both wanting to feel his hand in hers and terrified of what would happen.

"They mean to kill me," Loki said, heaviness in his voice. "I know not how, but it is certain. Thor cannot protect me forever." He stepped forward, closer to the retreating Roe.

"What are you doing?" she asked, panic growing.

"I don't want to die by their hands, little Roe."

Roe tried to pull her arm away without touching his hand. "Loki, let me go," she begged. "Please."

"Are you frightened?"

"Yes."

Loki smiled down at her, came even closer to her. "What of?"

Roe thought for a moment. She wasn't afraid of taking life, she had done that too many times before, so what was she afraid of? "Of you dying."

Loki turned her to face him, rested his hands on her hips. "I told you, I am not afraid to die."

Roe felt as though she may cry at the thought of his suicide mission, which she was about to become a part of. "Loki, please. Don't do this. Don't make me do this."

"I am utterly selfish, beautiful girl, and I must. Perhaps I shall come out unscathed."

Roe tried to pull away but Loki held her firmly in place. "No one comes out of this unscathed, please Loki, please let me go."

Loki leaned down so his mouth was an inch from her ear. "I am not just anyone."

He pulled back and looked at her, knowing how frightened she was. In one smooth motion, he cupped her face and kissed her deeply, not fearing a thing.


	7. Chapter 7

**I own nothing other than Roe, my plotline, and the comfort that somewhere, somehow, I can get schwarma. **

07

Roe braced herself for Loki's weight, and opened her eyes when she didn't feel it. The first thing she saw as she pulled away was Loki's face, his eyes blinking in shock. His hands still cupped her face, palms cool against her skin.

"But-" Roe began, not understanding. "I-"

She was quieted as Loki's mouth pressed against hers again. He pulled her tightly against him, hands moving into her hair as he kissed her furiously.

Roe, still shocked, kissed him back, and clung onto his shoulders for support. He leaned down and scooped her up, pulling her legs around his waist. He walked over to the kitchen and propped her up on the counter, never breaking away from her mouth.

Roe didn't want to stop but pulled away. "Loki, wait," she said, as he kissed down her cheek and onto her neck. "Wait."

He stood to his full height and pulled away slightly, comfortably resting between her legs with his hands on her hips. Roe was acutely aware of his body, his hips against her thighs, and felt a blush crawling onto her face.

She reached a hand forward and touched his cheek gingerly. Loki shut his eyes, his desire for her apparent. It was taking all of his self control to stand there without continuing on, and he fought to keep still.

"I don't understand," Roe said, running her fingertips over his jawline and swollen lips. "How-how am I doing this?"

Loki opened his eyes and looked at her face, flushed red and bewildered. He shrugged, truly not knowing what had happened. He had been ready to die, ready to give up the life of imprisonment that he had to face. He'd decided it was best that way, painless and quick, rather than whatever else could be planned for him. He had braced himself for the stoppage of his heart, for the seizing grip of death, and had instead been surprised to find Roe's warm skin against his, no sensation other than the growing desire he felt.

He slid his hands under the back of her shirt, causing Roe to shiver. "Do you want me to stop?" he asked, watching a pulsing vein on her throat.

Roe shook her head. "I'm just…I haven't been able to touch anyone in a decade."

Loki leaned into her neck and breathed in the scent of her. Roe's arms were around his waist, and he felt as though nothing were more natural. When had such feelings for her arisen? When had he allowed them to? The god of mischief did not let anyone in, especially women. He had been with women before, gotten what he wanted and then discarded them, and had never wanted so deeply to be with someone before. It baffled him and made him feel vulnerable, but the possibility of not having what was in his arms just then was not an option.

A thought came to him. He was the first person she had touched since childhood, the first man she had ever kissed. He pulled away from her, pulled his hands to rest on her covered middle back. "Are you afraid of me?" he asked.

Roe shook her head, looking anxious.

"Afraid of this?"

She nodded, and bit her lip.

Loki smiled and leaned into her, kissing her gently, chastely on the mouth. "We need not go any further, my little Roe. Do not be afraid."

He was not acting like himself. The usual Loki wouldn't care if a partner were nervous or afraid. He would continue on selfishly, working to his own ends. He felt the need to protect the woman in his arms, keep her from any harm, even if he were the one causing it.

He pulled her against him, her cheek against his neck. "I cannot pretend to understand this," he said, grasping her to his chest and letting her slide down to her feet on the floor. "But I cannot pretend to loathe it."

Roe smiled shyly. "Maybe because you are a god," she said, rubbing her arm nervously.

"Would you like to try it out on my brother? I'm sure he wouldn't mind a kiss or two." Loki said, and Roe whipped her face up to look at him before she realized he was joking. His eyes were shining, mischief lighting them.

She laughed and leaned against the counter. "What are we going to do?" she asked, face falling.

"In what sense?" Loki replied, brushing her hair off her forehead.

"Do we tell them what happened? Well, not exactly what happened, but that you haven't dropped dead at my feet?"

Loki thought for a moment and bent to itch something on his leg. Roe realized that it was his tracker, hidden away beneath his trousers. He stood again. "They will likely be quite disappointed that you were unable to kill me," he said, and Roe thought she heard sadness in his voice, though she wasn't sure what it was a result of.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her hand resting on his at his side.

"It is rare, impossible rather, for me to feel anything for anyone aside from myself. It is a cosmic injustice that I should feel for you, when I am to be in chains for the rest of my life and you are to die so prematurely before me. I was prepared to die today, but instead will have to endure a lifetime without you, alone and knowing what it is I have lost." He spoke clearly, without hesitation, as though nothing were more apparent to him.

Roe felt her breath leaving her body at his words, and felt as though she were in a dream. She knew that Thor had fallen for his own Jane Foster very quickly; was it possible that all gods did so? She wondered why she was so special, why she was the one whom Loki cared for.

One thing was certain; she knew she felt something in return. Her chest felt full, as though it may burst at any moment, and the thought of him leaving to rot in a prison cell brought an immediate panic. "Maybe I can come with you," she said, and she meant it.

Loki shook his head. "Let us not speak of it," he said, and there was a knock on the door that made Roe jump before she could protest.

She squeezed his hand once more and walked to the door, smoothing down her clothes and hair, hoping she didn't look as though she had just been involved with the man behind her.

She opened the door about a foot and stood in the opening. Thor stood there, hands in his sweatshirt pocket, looking nearly like a normal human being.

"Lady Roe, is my brother here?" he asked, trying to look past her.

"Thor," Loki said from behind her, and Roe opened the door fully. Loki stood behind her, resting a hand on her shoulder.

Thor looked at his hand as though it were a foreign creature he had never seen before. "Brother," he said, "everyone had wondered where you had disappeared to."

"It is obvious that I am here, is it not? You may go tell them so."

Thor looked uncomfortable, and Roe stood between them, not saying a word. Thor cleared his throat and looked her in the eye, trying to detect some distress. "Lady Roe, you are well?"

She smiled shyly at him. "Very well, thank you."

"Alright…I will let everyone know then," Thor said, and he paused, as though waiting for Roe to say more.

"You do that," Loki replied mockingly, and he took his hand from Roe's shoulder. He reached forward and shut the door with it, his jaw resting against Roe's forehead. Roe's eyes caught Thor's and saw his confusion at their contact before the door shut fully, leaving Roe against Loki, wondering what would happen when the Avengers were told of it.


	8. Chapter 8

**I own nothing other than Roe, my plotline, and the wonder at how no one has asked Iron Man about his drinking habits thus far.**

08

Roe had said goodbye to Loki the night before reluctantly, knowing that he had to return to his room to prevent any kind of suspicion from arising. She wondered if Thor had told everyone about Loki being able to touch her and shuddered at the thought of what they could have to say.

She woke up slowly and lay in bed for nearly an hour before finally clambering out of it. As she showered and got dressed for the day, she thought of the man who had kissed her in an attempt to kill himself and who had instead become the dearest person in her recent life. She wondered if she felt so strongly for him only because he was the only one she could feel for, and felt herself deflating at the thought of it. She barely knew the man, had spent very little time with him, and had never had a relationship with anyone else. Could what she felt just be the misleading infatuation that pubescent youths felt? It felt real, but what was real affection supposed to feel like?

These thoughts played in Roe's head as she ate quickly, and she tried to rid her mind of them as she went upstairs reluctantly. She didn't go to Loki's room, thinking that he may not want to see her so soon after their last encounter, and rode the elevator alone to the top floor. When she stepped out of it and down the hall, she saw that the room was empty except for Thor, who was looking down onto the city, hands clasped behind his back.

Roe turned to leave before he could spot her but heard his voice calling out and froze.

"Lady Roe," he said, and she turned. He wasn't beaming as usual.

"G-good morning," she replied, instantly nervous about the line of inquiry that was about to follow.

"Can we speak?"

Roe nodded and walked over to the table where Thor lowered himself gracefully, for his size, into a chair. She sat across from him and crossed her gloved hands under the table.

"My eyes must have been deceiving me yesterday, Lady Roe, for what I saw could not be possible after what I have been told of you." Thor pushed his shoulder length hair out of his face with both hands and sighed. "I must ask you if it was real, or just another one of Loki's many tricks."

Roe looked at her hands through the glass table. "It was real," she said quietly.

"But then how possible? And how did he come to touch you in the first place?"

Roe bit her lip. "I don't know how it's possible. It's never happened before, someone being able to come into contact with me. I can't tell you that I understand it because I really don't."

"Why did he touch you, the first time?" Thor pressed on, and Roe wished he didn't. She didn't answer immediately, and Thor sighed. "My brother has had suicidal tendencies in the past, nothing starkly overt, but practices which have greatly endangered him. I am sure that this instance was no different."

Roe looked at him and saw that his face was sad and something else she couldn't quite place, remembering aspects from Loki's past. "Are you angry?" she asked, knowing that the anger of a god was not something that anyone should wish for.

Thor smiled at her, though it didn't bring the usual light to his eyes. "No, Lady Roe, of course not. You have done nothing wrong and Loki…Loki is acting as he always does."

Without thinking, Roe asked, "How did you and Jane become close so quickly?"

Thor tilted his head and looked at her inquisitively. "Asgardians feel emotions on a far greater scale than Midgardians do. Greater pain, greater love." He surveyed her face. "Why, has something happened between the two of you?"

Roe blushed and shrugged.

Thor heaved a hefty sigh. "If something has transpired, please be careful. I love him, and he is my brother, but he is not one who can be trusted. His mind has been so twisted by anger and jealousy that I fear he is too far gone, even for such a thing as love."

Roe didn't say anything, but wondered sadly if she was just being manipulated. She and Thor both looked up as they heard several voices in the hallway, and the rest of the team walked in. Loki trailed behind, and she knew that one or more of the Avengers had brought him up.

He flashed her a quick smile as he passed the table, and sat down in his usual chair. Roe peeked over at him and caught his eye, a blush flooding her face when she saw him still looking at her.

"Roe," a voice said above her. She looked up and saw Hawkeye standing there. "I just want to apologize for yesterday…I wasn't thinking when I said it."

Roe replied that it was fine and he sat down in the chair next to hers, still looking guilty. She wondered how much he had been reamed out for it as she glanced around at the others, who were situating themselves at the table.

"We have some developments since yesterday," Natasha said when everyone had settled in. "It's been confirmed that Napalm is at his base in Wyoming, along with a huge chunk of his army. That's the good news."

She pulled out a tablet pressed a button, which flooded the room with a grating voice that sounded oddly familiar to Roe.

"Hello Avengers," it said, a hint of mockery lighting the words. "And hello to my little Roe in particular."

Roe froze, immediately panicked. She looked at Loki, who had leaned forward in his seat to listen. His face was hard.

"I know you all are looking for me," the voice continued on. "And I know that you know where I am. You know this only because I've allowed you to know it, so don't go on thinking you are so wonderful; your egos don't need further inflation following that New York incident.

"Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to stay here and not attack a single person with these weapons that you've created, and you're going to send me Roe, your walking, talking angel of death. You're going to do this by, oh I don't know, the end of the week, or I start killing people. Lots and lots of people, I think children first, just to make myself very clear. You send her to me, and no one gets hurt. Don't and, well, you know."

There was a long pause, and Roe felt as thought she would vomit.

The voice finished its speech. "Ta-ta Avengers and Roe, I'll see you soon."

Natasha shut the tablet and all eyes rested on Roe, especially Loki's, which were filled with both concern and ire. Roe felt like air was coming more difficultly to her, and that she may pass out.

"Why does he want her?" Steve asked, saying what everyone was thinking.

Roe wished she had the answer. She had never seen the man called Napalm, never heard of him before that week. Did he want her simply for her abilities? To use her as SHIELD had done for so many years?

"We obviously aren't going to give in to these demands Roe," Bruce said, trying to sound calming.

Everyone muttered in agreement, and there was a silence. Roe felt a crushing sense of inadequacy in how to handle what had been said, and slumped down in her chair, not looking at anyone.

"What if," Loki said from across the room. "You did give into them? Or at least feigned to."

Everyone's heads whipped around to look at him, and Roe followed suit, wondering where he was going with his idea.

Loki stood, and spoke animatedly. "If he wants Roe, why not bring her to him? Lure him into a false sense of security that he has won and then attack, actually having a plan for once instead of bumbling around like imbeciles."

He looked at Roe and she could see that he was sure of himself, and was comforted by that fact. He smirked at her, attempting to be playful to keep her from being afraid, and she felt a little better.

The entire group started to speak at once, to argue with his idea.

"I'm sure he would expect something like that," Hawkeye said.

"What's to keep him from using Roe, sorry Roe, against us once he has her?" Steve added.

"She cannot be sent in alone to her possible death or the death of many others so easily brother," came Thor.

Loki smiled at the group and their defensiveness. "Of course she cannot be sent alone," he said, walking over to the table.

"And who do you think should go with her reindeer games?" Tony asked mockingly.

Loki stopped behind Roe's chair and placed a hand on her covered shoulder. His grip felt comforting and she visibly relaxed. Thor was the only one in the group to not look at Loki murderously, and Roe wondered if their secret was about to be revealed. She hardly cared, wanting rather to have everyone know that she was not just walking death, that she could be a person too.

"I will, of course," Loki replied smoothly. Before anyone could argue, he continued. "I can lead this idiot into thinking he has won, that your prisoner has escaped with the purpose of aligning myself with him. I can bring him Roe. I can make him think there is no real threat from you all."

Everyone thought about this for a moment, shocked into silence.

"Why should we trust you?" Natasha asked. "How do we know that isn't actually your plan?"

Loki began to speak, but Roe patted his hand with her gloved one to stop him. She pushed her chair back and stood at his side, taking a deep breath for what was about to happen.

Finger by finger, Roe removed her glove. Loki inched his hand towards hers, and everyone watched with held breath, thinking that he was about to drop dead. No one stopped them.

Loki's fingers wrapped around Roe's and he smiled down at her. She looked at the group, which was staring openly at their contact.

"I trust him," Roe said calmly. "As much as I can touch him, I trust him."

Loki leaned down and kissed her forehead sincerely, and the room exploded with the sound of shouting voices.


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you everyone for reading and especially for those who have reviewed! I greatly appreciate it, as this is my first ever fanfiction :-) **

**I own nothing other than Roe, my plot, and the dream that someday I will master astral-projection, so I can work and go out with friends while still actually in bed.**

09

The din coming from the Avengers was already beginning to give Roe a headache, and she shut her eyes tightly, slumping into her chair. Loki stood behind her, hand on her shoulder, completely silent.

"What the flying fuck is this?" Tony yelled, staring down the two of them. The others shared his sentiment in varying forms of obscenity.

Thor stood calmly, trying to get everyone else to sit down and take a deep breath. They all, of course, ignored him, and looked like they wanted to murder Loki on the spot.

Hawkeye, who was the closest of them all, reached out for Loki's arm. Roe, feeling the movement, snapped her eyes open and glared at him.

"Don't touch him," she warned, and Hawkeye backed away from the two of them, opting to sit on the other side of the table. Loki took his empty seat, and smiled at Roe, holding her bare hand on his thigh.

Bruce, who had been the only one in the group to not raise his voice at all, quietly and calmly told them all to sit down and shut up. Surprisingly they did, looking at him as though he were about to turn into the Hulk at any time.

"Now," Bruce said, rubbing his temples. Roe felt bad that she had brought about such a commotion around him. "Start from the beginning. What is this and how did it happen?"

Roe looked at Loki, who spoke evenly. "What do you want me to say? I was drawn to this girl at first because of the way in which you all looked at her, like she was something to be feared rather than someone to be understood. I identified with her situation."

Hawkeye barked out a laugh. "She is nothing like you, there's nothing to identify with."

Roe raised her eyes to look directly at Hawkeye. "How do you know what I'm like? How do any of you know? For years you've let me hide myself away without any attempt to reach me, and at the first sign of a threat you want to put me back down there immediately. So tell me, how do any of you know a thing about who I am?" Her voice shook, and she felt tears threatening. She steeled herself, refusing to cry in front of the people that were supposed to be her team.

Loki squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Roe," Bruce said, his voice carrying a hurt in it that overrode his anger. "I am, we are, sorry that we haven't been there for you, but that doesn't mean you should be driven to associate with him. You know what he's done, the damage and the deaths."

Loki stilled, and glared at Bruce, who looked blandly back at the god of mischief.

"Anyone here who hasn't killed, who hasn't hurt an incredible amount of people, please continue that line of reasoning," Roe replied, looking around at each of them. "Not one of you is guiltless, and neither am I."

"But he-" Hawkeye started.

"Enough!" Loki shouted. "I am well aware of what I have done, and I am not apologetic for it." He heaved a great sigh. "I am to be punished for it for the remainder of my life, and it is the reason that I went to Roe in the first place."

Thor looked at Loki, sadness in his eyes. "Brother, you need not speak of this."

"No, he needs to," interjected Tony scathingly.

Loki looked down at his hand on Roe's under the table. "I meant to die, to keep myself from whatever torment the lot of you could dream up. To keep myself from centuries in a cell." Roe squeezed his hand. "My attempt failed."

The group was stunned into silence for a moment and more than one of them scratched their heads or rubbed their brows in thought.

Finally, Natasha spoke. "Roe…isn't this a little weird for you? I mean, I know you weren't part of the team yet when Loki was last here but you saw what he did; you were in the city when it happened. I think we are just all confused as to how you can be sitting there with him like that. It's…it's a lot to take in."

"I was part of the team, you just didn't know it yet. I was the shameful part of this organization, weaponized to the point of wanting to kill myself." Roe spoke quietly, and everyone leaned in to hear her. "You think that Bruce is the only one here who wanted to end it all? This morning was the first morning I woke up not wanting to remove myself from this entire situation."

Loki rubbed his thumb against the back of Roe's hand, saddened by what she had said. He had thought, foolishly, that his suicidal ideations were unique, and he felt his affection for her growing even deeper as he watched her confession.

The entire group, even Tony, just sat quietly, taking in what she had sad. After a few minutes, the silence was deafening to Roe and she stood, pushing herself away from the table. She walked smoothly out of the room, Loki trailing behind her. Together, they went down to the ground floor, hand in hand.

When she was finally behind her closed and locked apartment door, Roe slid down onto the floor and rested her head against the wall in exasperation. Not only did she have the impending fight with Napalm to worry about, but also her fledgling feelings for Loki and the Avengers' reaction to it. She wondered if he really cared for her or if he was using her like everyone else had, and if she really cared for him in return or if it was the result of him being the only one she could touch.

The thought of the things he had done years before plagued her mind as he sat down on the floor beside her, his legs bent in front of him, elbows resting on his knees.

"Loki," she said, eyes shut and head against the cool wall. "Are you really not sorry for the things you've done?"

She heard him sigh. "I cannot pretend to feel guilt for them," he replied simply.

"Why did you do it all?"

He hesitated, thinking of whether to tell her the truth or not. Taking his chances, he spoke again. "I was groomed to be a king from birth, raised to believe that the throne was my only rightful place. When I was told of my true parentage, I knew it to be true. I am the son of a king, both by blood and by family, and deserve the right to rule."

Roe opened her eyes and looked at him. There was hardness in his eyes, determination. "That was worth killing all those people?"

"Yes." There was no uncertainty in his voice, no pause.

"And what about now?"

Loki looked at her, brushed his fingertips along her jawline. "Now…I know not."

She leaned into his shoulder and sighed when he kissed the top of her head. "I don't want them to be right about you, I want you to be this person rather than who they think you are."

"You think it impossible to be both?"

Roe bit her lip. "Yes."

"Why?"

"Because if you are that person, I cannot be here with you, like this."

Loki pulled away from her and looked at her face. There was conflict on his own, a pain evident by the crease in his brow. "You wish for me to be an average, normal man, with no power and no chance to claim my birthright."

Roe smiled and pressed a finger onto the furrows in his brow, smoothing them. "You can never, no matter how hard you try, be normal or average Loki. Just as much as I can't."

He didn't argue with her, knowing that he was not ready to make a decision between the man he had been and the man he could possibly be. It was all nearly too much to take in, his sudden and immediate affection for her that had arisen more quickly than he could fathom. He felt the need to protect her, to be with her, and didn't understand it. Not being one who let people in, Loki was uncomfortable with his newfound vulnerability, and wondered if he should end his interactions with her to save himself. But no, there was nothing else for him, no hope of happiness in the cage he was destined to.

"Loki," Roe said, breaking him out of his reverie. "What did you mean, your true parentage?"

He looked at her inquisitively. "You know so much about me but not this?" he asked, perplexed. She had been told of his misdeeds and his abilities, why not what he was?

She shook her head.

Loki took a deep breath, hating having to speak of his Frost Giant heritage. "Odin and Frigga adopted me, as an infant, and raised me alongside their own son. My true father died by Odin's hand."

"Odin killed another Asgardian? Why?"

Dread flooded Loki's face, and he knew what usually followed what he was about to say. "No. I am not of Asgard. I am…of Frost Giant heritage. From another realm."

She thought about this. "But you look…normal, I guess."

Hesitantly, Loki dissolved the constant disguise he wore, reverting to his true form. Roe's eyes widened as his skin turned an icy blue, his eyes a bright orange. Loki set his head against the wall behind him and shut his eyes so he wouldn't see her reaction to his real self.

He flinched when he felt her fingertips on his cheek and opened his eyes. She pulled her hand away quickly, and the skin there was bright pink from the cold.

"I can't touch you," she said, confused. "It hurt my hand."

Loki pulled his disguise back into place, turning into the familiarly humanlike form he wore. "No one but a Frost Giant can touch a Frost Giant," he said, sighing.

He was shocked when a wide smile spread across Roe's face.

"What?" he asked, perplexed.

She straddled his legs and sat on him, face inches from him. She kissed him deeply, her smile playing against his lips. "You're more like me than I thought," she said, and she kissed him again, pulling his body against hers.

Loki was surprised by her reaction, but wrapped his arms around her small form, pulling her against his chest. He felt the heat of desire sparking in his midsection and groaned, knowing that he had to go slow with her.

He cupped her behind with both hands as he kissed her, and she didn't stop him, only let out a small moan that set Loki's mind ablaze. He leaned forward and stood, his godly grace and strength apparent as he held her against him. Roe wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms atop his shoulders.

Loki bypassed the couch and walked into her bedroom, setting her down gently on the bed. He saw a look of uncertainty flash across her features, an anxiety she couldn't hide.

"Worry not," he said, kissing her forehead. "I will not push you."

Roe smiled and kissed him again, pulled him down on top of her. His weight on her was nearly crushing, but she reveled in it, the sensation of having him so close to her.

Guided by her desire rather than her inhibition, Roe tugged Loki's shirt out from his pants and gripped his back, feeling his muscles there as though they were a new land to explore. He pulled back and stood at the edge of the bed, unbuttoning each button deftly, quickly. Roe's hands traveled over his bare torso as he lay back down, this time beside her. She turned onto her side and ran her fingertips over every inch of his exposed skin, making his breaths shorten with longing.

She looked at him nervously and stood, facing away from the bed. Loki watched, fixated, as she pulled off the layers that covered her upper body, and was amazed at how many she wore. She finally turned around, still wearing her bra, and held her hands together in front of her, looking at the ground.

Loki's eyes traveled over her bare skin in awe, having time to inspect it that he hadn't upon their former meeting. He sat at the edge of the bed in front of her and unclasped her hands, pulling her arms apart so he could see her stomach. The crosshatching scars stared back at him.

"I want you to never do this to yourself again," he said, running his fingertips along each one. She shivered at his touch, as it ran from her sternum to her navel and out to her hipbones. She bit her lip, embarrassed of her self-inflicted scars, and nodded.

Loki leaned in and kissed her stomach, kissed every single scar she had, taking an excruciatingly long time to do so. Roe felt as though she may burst and pushed him back onto the bed.

His cool skin against her own was the greatest sensation she had ever felt, and she pressed every inch of herself against him. She kissed him again, her hands bracing her weight on either side of his head. Loki ran his hands over her back, feeling each vertebra as she moved, and wondered if she ate enough. His fingers ran under the band of her bra, and he smiled into their kiss as she reached behind her to unclasp it.

Loki pulled it off and threw it across the room, happy to be rid of such a moronic thing. They lay bare chest to bare chest now, and Loki peeked down at her hungrily, not wanting to stop their progression.

He rolled on top of her and kissed down her neck, onto her chest. As he kissed down her sternum and onto the soft mounds there, Roe arched her back into him, heaving a heavy sigh. The aching in Loki's midsection was growing uncomfortable, and he wanted nothing more than relief. Still, he did not push her.

"Loki," Roe breathed out. "I want-"

There was a heavy knock on the door, and Loki whipped his head around, glaring daggers at it.

"Roe!" Fury's voice rang out. He sounded, well, furious.

"Oh fuck," Roe groaned, pushing Loki back. She stood up and hurriedly pulled on her layers, forgoing the bra which was hidden somewhere in the room.

Loki, standing with both hands gripping the bed, groaned loudly and stood upright. He picked his shirt up from the floor and pulled it on angrily, wanting nothing more than to murder Nick Fury.

When the two of them looked presentable enough, Roe walked quickly to the door, Loki hanging back. He looked down at himself and sat down on the couch, legs crossed. He muttered to himself while Roe opened the door, anticipating the fury of director that was to come.


	10. Chapter 10

**I own nothing other than Roe, my story, and maybe a little bit too much free time.**

10

Roe opened the door with shaking hands, knowing that what was on the other side was nothing she wanted to see.

The hard face of Nick Fury greeted her and he entered without asking. With heavy, deliberate steps, he moved into the apartment as though he owned the place, an authority that Roe wished she could muster.

"So," he said, looking at Loki and then at Roe. "They weren't lying about this shit." Loki sat serenely on the couch, legs crossed, and didn't look at the Fury.

Roe shut the door quietly and turned around slowly, hoping that the director would disappear before she finished the rotation. Unfortunately for her, he was still there, hands on his hips, staring her down.

"Explain this to me because I'm not following your goddamn logic here Roe. You found someone who can touch you; great, wonderful, but then you let your guard down so quickly? The one person you can't kill is the one person you shouldn't be around. Are you that stupid? Have you learned nothing here?"

She started to answer, to defend Loki and his reformation, but Fury held a hand up to stop her.

"I don't even want to hear it. It won't make a damn difference." He turned to Loki and glared down at him. "You. Up."

Loki stood, not wanting to create any more problems for Roe. He caught her eye as he stood, trying to convey to her that everything was fine. He was used to such treatment from the director, and from the other Avengers, and had been expecting it all along. He knew what was to come, and though it pained him, he wanted to keep Roe calm.

"Let's go," Fury said, motioning for Loki to walk ahead of him. He kept a hand on his pistol at his waist, an action that Roe thought to be comically superfluous.

"Where are you taking him?" Roe asked in a small, scared voice. She had known Fury for too long to think that he would allow them to continue on as they had been. Why had she been so stupid, allowing the others to know what was going on? How could she let things slip so foolishly?

"To his cell, where he belongs."

Loki walked forward, brushing his hand against Roe's as he went. Fury gave her a wide berth.

"For how long?" Roe asked, turning around to face their retreating backs.

"Until he and his brother leave this planet, like I should have done in the first place." Fury's voice had a tone of finality, and Roe didn't know what to say. She felt anger and sadness and helplessness all at once and wanted to scream.

"You don't have to do that, he's not hurting anyone at all and I can make sure he stays out of trouble. Don't lock him away."

Looking over his shoulder at her, Fury made a face Roe had never seen directed at her. "I can't trust you either," he said sourly. "You're lucky I don't lock you up too." And he pushed Loki out the door and slammed it shut behind him, leaving Roe alone in her apartment, feeling as though she couldn't breathe.

Several hours and many tears later, Roe dragged herself out of her bed, the sheets smelling of Loki. She changed into shorts and a single layered long sleeve shirt, feeling trapped by her clothing. She looked at herself in the mirror behind the door and wiped her cheeks, devastated by the thought of never touching another person again. She missed him already, not only his touch but also his smile and the sound of his voice. She thought of how he seemed to be so different from the man everyone had said he was, and how they really didn't know him at all.

There was a soft knock on the door, which Roe ignored. She didn't want to see anyone.

The knocking continued and Roe groaned. Everyone knew she would be in there and whoever it was would have no reason to leave until she answered. She begrudgingly went to the door and yanked it open roughly.

Bruce stood in the hallway, looking very out of place in the basement. His face was a mask of sad serenity, creases in his brow from constant frowning. He looked at Roe's face, puffy and red from crying and sighed. She saw his eyes moving downward to her bare legs and feet and then to the ground, embarrassed.

"Can I come in?" he asked, and Roe answered by walking away from the open door. He followed her in and shut it.

Roe sat down on the couch and drew her knees up to her chest. She stared at him, waiting for him to say why he was there.

"Are you alright?" Bruce asked, looking around the room. He, like the other Avengers, had never been into Roe's personal space before, and marveled at her books and her hobbies before finally perching on the edge of the piano bench.

"Do I look alright?" Roe replied, her voice cracking and her throat sore.

"Stupid question I guess." Bruce ran his fingers through his hair. "Listen, I'm sorry for what Fury did. Everyone was just worried about you, and we can't trust him after what he did…they all just want you to be safe."

"You meant to say uncompromised, they all just want me to be uncompromised."

Bruce sighed. "Yeah, I guess you could say that too." He thought for a moment. "Why him Roe, of all the people in the universe, why him?"

She didn't know if he was asking why Loki was able to touch her or why she had let him into her life when she had kept all of the others out. "I don't know," she replied, answering both questions.

"You saw what he did to the city, to us. He would have killed us all if he could have. He would have killed you back then too."

Roe lay her head against the back of the couch and sighed. She wondered if she was to have this conversation with each and every member of the Avengers. "People can change," she said forlornly.

"In under a week? Having just met you? How do you know he isn't just manipulating you to find an out?"

Roe stayed quiet as Bruce spoke of the things that she herself feared. Had Loki been acting all along, just waiting until he could properly use her? She dreaded the thought and pushed it to the back of her mind. She didn't want to cry anymore, and especially not in front of anyone.

"There are… other people who could treat you better, genuinely love you. Who won't ever cause you pain or tears. Who could…who could treat you well. You don't need him or his tricks."

Roe smiled sadly, really only hearing pieces of what he said, and bit her lip. "They would love me until I laid a finger on them and saw them dead at my feet."

Bruce shifted on the piano bench. "There has to be a way around it," he said, determination in his voice, and Roe looked at him. His eyes were sad, begging, and it made her uncomfortable.

"What are you saying?" she asked. "Have you found a way around it?"

"Oh, no, no, not yet at least. I could though, I'm sure I could." His voice wavered slightly, and Roe couldn't place why he was so nervous.

"Dr. Banner, what's wrong?"

He stood, smoothed is trousers down. "Nothing, nothing. I'm going to go." He walked across the room and to the door, pausing with his hand on the knob. He turned. "Just remember what I said, that there are other people to love you." And he left quickly, not saying another word.

Roe sat on the couch, perplexed. Bruce had said there must be a way to fix her, to make her able to touch others. He had said…he had insisted that there were others to love her.

Realization of his possible meaning flooded Roe's mind and she stood quickly. She ran to the door and swung it open, ran into the hallway. Barefoot and barelegged, she hurried down it, calling his name.


	11. Chapter 11

**I own nothing but Roe, my story, and a tumblr (ellieology) that is filled with fandoms.**

**Short chapter (I have way too much to do today) that is intentionally hurrying along. Thank you all for reading and following and reviewing you make me so happy!**

11

Loki heard Roe's voice calling for Bruce as she ran down the hall and wondered what was going on. He had no way of looking out of his cell and sighed, pressing his forehead against the cold steel wall.

His looked around the small room in which he was to be confined for the remainder of his stay. The bed, which was really no more than a cot, was pressed against one wall, a toilet pressed against another. Its adjacent sink was a shiny, sterile metal like everything else in the room, and Loki's nose scrunched up in disgust at it all. He had no books, no way to pass the time, and sunk down onto his bed to think of how he could escape.

Roe ran after Bruce and rushed into the elevator to find him. She pressed the button for the top floor harder than she usually would and tapped her foot while she rode up.

Stepping out into the cavernous room, Roe was met with the eyes of every Avenger, other than Bruce. They all looked her up and down, from her bare feet and legs up to her disheveled hair.

She forgot why she had come up for a moment and glared at the group. "What is wrong with all of you? Are you happy now that he's locked up?"

No one said anything, and Thor stepped forward after a few seconds. "Lady Roe, it is for the best."

Roe walked towards them and they all backed away without hesitation. "You all disgust me," she spit out. She looked at Thor. "Especially you. He's your brother and you let them toss him aside like it is nothing. Isn't it bad enough that he's got centuries of a cell ahead of him? You couldn't just let him have one last taste of freedom; let me have just the semblance of normalcy for a while? What more can I give to you people?" And she turned on her heel and stormed out, leaving them all with an awestruck look on their faces. It was the most Roe had ever said to them.

There was a tap on Loki's cell door, the sound of fingertips against metal. He waited for it to be unlocked and swung open, but the jangling of keys in the lock didn't come.

"Loki," said a small voice.

He sprung out of the bed. "Roe," he said breathily. He pressed his head against the cool door, unaware that she was doing the same on the other side.

"Are you okay?" she asked, laying her palms flat beside her head.

Loki shut his eyes and focused, and appearing out of the wall came the illusion of him next to her. "I am alright," mouthed the illusion while his voice came from within the cell. It smiled at her reassuringly. "Are you?"

Roe ran her hand through the illusion and watched it flicker. "No, I'm not alright," she said, sinking down to the ground. The Loki illusion sank down beside her, the real thing doing the same inside the cell. They sat back to back with only inches of steel between them, seeming like a universe.

Loki held his eyes shut, seeing what his illusion saw. Roe looked tired, worn out, and he wished he could reach out and make her feel better. She turned her head towards the illusion and he could tell that she wished for the same thing.

"Is there any way out of there?" she asked flatly. She assumed there wasn't; Fury didn't have poor facilities built anywhere, least of all in their prison.

"I think not, but I will certainly try." Loki tried to sound hopeful for her, though he did not feel so himself. "Were I to escape, there is still the matter of this tracker." He reached down and itched his leg where it lay, until the skin around it was raw, though his illusion sat calmly beside her.

She set her head back against the door and breathed out a sigh of exasperation. "Where would we even go, if we could? There's still the threat of Napalm and whatever he wants with me and I just…I don't know what to do right now."

Illusion-Loki reached his hand out towards her and rested it on her thigh, dissolving through her skin. "I will find a way out," he said, voice muffled behind Roe's head. "I always do."

And they sat like that in silence until the cold grew to be too much for Roe and she had to retreat back into her apartment. She locked the door and slid the couch against it, knowing that it wouldn't stop anyone in the building but feeling better all the same.

Loki paced the entire night, looking around the room for a means to escape. He knew that he was being watched, that the device in the corner of the room was a way for them to monitor him, so he kept his face emotionless and body nondescript.

After what seemed like hours but could have been minutes, he sat down on his cot, realizing that the box he was in was quite well made to keep him. He thought that he could overtake whoever brought his food in next, bring them down and make a run for it, but the issue of the tracker would still remain.

It seemed altogether hopeless, though he would never admit this to himself. Just as he was about to force himself into sleep, the sound of keys in the lock made him alert, made him sit up straight as a pin.

The door swung open, and an uncertain Bruce stood there, holding the keys.

"Ah, the Hulk himself," Loki said, aiming for nonchalance.

"Not quite," Bruce replied, his face twisted, as it usually was when he was trying to keep very, very calm. "Listen, we don't have time for patronizing. They're only gone from the screens for a few minutes tops. You need to do that astral projection thing you do and make it look like you're still in here. Now."

Without thinking, Loki stood and did as he said, creating the illusion of himself in the bed, restful. "What is this?" he asked suspiciously.

"This…this is helping Roe and maybe saving the world and nothing else." Bruce walked into the hallway and Loki followed him, baffled. Bruce locked the door and led Loki down the long hallway, towards Roe apartment.

He knocked on the door emphatically, anxiously.

"Why do you want to help Roe?" Loki asked calmly, though his mind was running a mile a minute.

"Because no one should have to be alone."

Loki inspected his face, trying to figure out if it was a trick. "Not even me?" he asked, baiting Bruce.

Bruce looked at him quickly and continued knocking. "No, not even you, if you being alone means she'll be alone."

The look on Bruce's face made realization flood into Loki's mind. "You love her," he said, leaning forward. "You've never even touched her and you think you love her." He didn't mean for it to sound as though he were mocking Bruce, but that's how it came out.

The doctor shot him a look and Loki didn't pursue it, not wanting to be put back in his cage. "Roe," Bruce said, looking up and down the hall. "Roe let me in, you need to let me in."

Her small voice was shaky on the other side. "Leave me alone, I don't want to see any of you."

"Roe, open the door," Loki said calmly, and he was awarded immediately with the sound of the couch being moved across the room.

The door swung open and she stood there in her long sleeve shirt and shorts, eyes wide at the sight of Loki with Bruce. Loki pushed her back gently into the room and Bruce followed him in, shutting the door quietly and avoiding the sight of Loki leaning in the kiss her quickly.

"What's going on?" she asked when they had separated.

"I know not," Loki replied, looking at Bruce. His hand wrapped around Roe's, and he felt the need to never let go.

Bruce squirmed for a moment and rubbed the back of his neck. His words came out in one long breath, anxiously rushed. "Okay, so I did some research and found out why Napalm knows about you, and why he wants you back and why Fury is so on board with letting you hide away here, why he doesn't want to let you out to fight. And I know that you and he," he glanced at Loki, "need to go and stop an attack before it happens." He took a deep breath. "You should maybe sit down."

Loki sat with her on the couch that was still out of place and waited, not mentioning the revelation he had about Bruce in the hallway. The two of them listened quietly as Bruce began to talk.


	12. Chapter 12

**I own nothing other than Roe, my story, and the constant question of where SHIELD gets its funding**

12

"Dr. Banner, what are you talking about?" Roe asked. "How could you know anything about Napalm and his plans?" She shifted her weight uncomfortably on the couch, moving closer to Loki's body. She didn't know how long she would be able to physically be with him and didn't want to waste a moment.

Loki held her hand with his own and rubbed the base of her spine with his other, feeling slightly drained from keeping up the illusion in his room. He felt a moment of guilt for being so close to her in front of another man who wanted her, but it passed quickly, replaced by a need for physical contact.

Bruce cleared his throat and ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, I broke into SHIELD's database, like Tony and I have on many occasions, and I started looking for anything that could have to do with the weapons being replicated and who Napalm could be, seeing if he was anyone I'd recognize, and anything about you Roe, anything that could link you to him."

Loki and Roe sat patiently, waiting for him to get to the point. Loki glanced at Roe several times, wishing that Bruce weren't there so that they could finish what they had started earlier.

"First I found out who Napalm is. He used to work for SHIELD, used to be really close friend of Fury's actually. They worked together on projects years and years ago, all top-secret things that were treading the line of ethics pretty heavily." He took another deep breath, having not inhaled once while speaking. "About twelve years ago, they were working on genetic modifications, mostly with volunteers at first, things like what was done to Steve. You know, increased strength, stamina, all of that.

"But then Napalm, whose name was Stanley Horowitz back then by the way, decided that those things weren't enough. He had been watching the wars unfold between the United States and the Middle East and thought of what he could do to weaponize humans, make it so they needed nothing but themselves to go into battle. No guns, no tanks, nothing.

"And he brought his ideas to Fury, who apparently didn't outright reject them, but who wasn't ready for human trials because of the high chance of killing the volunteers. He knew that SHIELD couldn't have that many accidental deaths on their hands without being shut down."

Roe's hands were growing sweaty at where this was going. Loki felt her growing clammy and rubbed her back reassuringly, wishing Bruce would just get it over with.

"So," Bruce continued. "Stanley and Fury had a bit of a falling out, both thinking they knew what was best for the organization and, to a larger extent, the world. Fury reported all of this in an in-house interview with the big wigs, explaining himself out of any accountability.

"Napalm, who had actually started calling himself that by this point, was removed from organization at the urging of Fury, who was trying to cover his ass. Cast out, he grew to resent Fury and thought that if he could prove that his trials would work, he would be welcomed back with open arms.

"And he, well, he started trials with people who thought they were just going in for medical testing. And then when his subjects died, as they all did, he started just plucking people off the street. That's where you come in Roe."

"SHIELD was able to recover your information from Napalm's laboratory, which he had hidden somewhere in the city. He had files and files on you because you were the only one of his subjects to survive."

Roe shook her head. "No, that can't be true. I think I'd remember being abducted by this guy, having tests done to me."

Bruce pulled a counter stool over and hoisted himself onto it. "Would you? I've read the research on repressing traumatic memories, and it's really possible that you just pushed it to the back of your mind, ignored it completely until it was just no longer accessible. When you…the day your family died, where were you coming out of, what type of building?"

Roe, flabbergasted, thought back to the stairs that she had nearly fallen down, the ones her sister's body had descended. She put her hands on her forehead, gripping her short hair, and willed her brain to pull up the memory.

"A police station," she finally said, and she looked at Bruce with a look of such misery that his heart sank lower than it already was. "We were coming out of a police station, they had picked me up there."

"You had been missing for over a month," Bruce said, his voice heavy.

Loki pulled her against him, wondering what could be in her brain. He didn't know how to comfort her, how to mend a broken mind when his too was fragmented.

"You had escaped, according to his files, and got to the police before he could recover you. But the damage had been done."

Roe stared at her hands, feeling as though she may cry. "What did he do to me?" she asked, needing to know just what was wrong with her.

"From what I can tell," Bruce said quietly. "He injected you with a poison, dimethyl mercury, in increasing doses until you were immune to it. It should have killed you, but for some reason, you survived, and he kept on each day until it had no effect at all. When you had gained immunity from it, which should have been absolutely impossible, he incorporated it into your body so that it couldn't work its way out of your system. He put it into your brain tissue, which couldn't replace itself with healthy tissue, and into your nerves and heart and bones. He filled you with it."

Roe's hand traveled to the back of her skull, where she felt the long scar she had there. She had thought it had been from a childhood accident. Loki pulled her hand away from it and held it in his own on her lap.

"What is the poison meant to do?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"It causes cardiac arrest, complete shut down in seconds."

"So," Roe said, so quiet that Bruce could barely hear her. "You're telling me that I am a walking poison. That I was somehow fortunate enough to survive him, only to become exactly what he meant me to be. And…that Fury knows all of this, and never made any attempt to tell me?"

Bruce chewed on his lip and nodded, not knowing what to say.

Roe felt a myriad of emotions, sadness of course, anger, at both the man who had changed her and the man who had never told her what she was, hatred for the both of them, and a determination she had never felt before.

"Dr. Banner," she said, her voice hard. "You need to get this tracker off of Loki."

Loki looked at her, and then at Bruce, who squirmed in his seat. "We cannot go after him without the rest of this organization following us," Loki said, thinking of strategy.

''Dr. Banner can tell them where we are, after we've gone. When we are sure not to be caught by them." She looked pointedly at Bruce. "That's what you want isn't it, why you've broken him out and told me all of this? You think it'll work that way?"

Bruce nodded.

"And I'll assume that means you know how to remove the tracker."

Bruce nodded again, and stood. He walked over to Loki, who raised his pant leg to reveal the metallic ring on his ankle. Roe noticed how raw the skin around it was, the dried blood from all of his itching of it. She squeezed his hand.

Bruce produced a small, strange looking metallic object from his pocket and searched along the band with his fingers until he finally found what he was looking for. He inserted the object and turned it, smiling when the band popped open with a click.

"They should really consider reverting back to hard copies of things," he said, standing. "Books are harder to peek into sometimes." He shut the band again and locked it, slipped it into his pocket. He looked at Roe. "You need to leave, tonight. Pack some things and go. That Loki illusion is only going to fool them for so long."

Roe stood, making Bruce back up automatically, wincing apologetically. He and Loki heard her in her room putting clothes into a bag after she had walked away.

"I believe I am indebted to you," Loki said, rising off the couch cushions. "Though you will never head me utter those words again."

"Just…just take care of her. Make sure she's safe and she's happy. We'll call it even."

Loki nodded once and thought about how it must feel to be in Bruce's shoes, how he would handle loving Roe and not being able to tell her, to touch her. He wondered if he even loved Roe, or if what he felt fell shy of the word.

She emerged from her room with a backpack strapped on, covered completely except for her face. She walked over to them and Bruce pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket.

"I stole it from Tony, he won't even realize it's missing," he said, smiling sheepishly. He handed to Roe, and she put it into her pocket with a gloved hand.

"Dr. Banner…"

"Bruce."

Loki inconspicuously moved towards the door, letting them say goodbye without his presence.

"Bruce," Roe said, smiling with tears in her eyes. "I don't know how to thank you for what you're doing. You could get into a lot of trouble when they find out."

He shrugged. "I've been in trouble before. Some trouble is worth it."

Pulling her scarf and hat into place so she was sure she was covered, Roe hugged Bruce, wrapping her arms around his middle tightly. "Thank you, for this, and for making me know how it feels to be loved," she whispered. He hugged her back, having never felt her body touching his in any capacity, and wished he could do so without so much between them.

She pulled away and Bruce looked at her, wishing he were in Loki's skin. She squeezed his hand once and walked past him. Loki wondered what she had said and took her hand. They opened the door and looked out into the hallway.

Loki cast an illusion over himself, made himself look like one of the many guards he had seen come into his cell. He dropped her hand and they ran down the hall, up the stairs, and out into the night like the escapees they were.

Inside, Bruce returned the tracker to Loki's cell and locked himself in his room, wondering just how he would go about saving the world.


	13. Chapter 13

**I own nothing other than Roe, my story, and an ever-growing imaginative repertoire. **

13

As they made it out the doors of Avengers' Tower, Loki noticed Roe's posture change. She stiffened and tried to pull herself inward to take up less space on the busy Manhattan sidewalk, eyes darting side to side at the people who rushed by her. He draped his arm around her shoulders and led her through the crowds, following her prompts at where to go.

By the time they had reached the train station, she was hyperventilating, shaking violently. Loki looked around them at the foot traffic of Penn Station and squeezed her arms reassuringly, kissing her deeply on the mouth despite the people around them.

"We are nearly there," he said soothingly. "Soon to be gone from this insanity."

"And into another," Roe said mournfully, and Loki wondered how they would make it through the difficult night.

She had been dealt a blow that would stagger many. She had forgotten much of her adolescent life, had been informed of Fury's betrayal of trust. She was about to face the man who had taken so much from her. Roe didn't let herself stop and think for a moment, knowing that if she did, she would fall apart.

Roe handed Loki the money and he in turn handed it to the person who booked them for a train due west to Chicago. They paid extra for their own cabin, where they could spend the ten hours undisturbed, having some calm before the storm.

The train was leaving in fifteen minutes, a stroke of luck that neither of them questioned, and they trotted down to the platform. Loki, who had never been on a train before, climbed onto it with trepidation, uneasy at the thought of being underground in such a thing.

They handed their tickets to the conductor who led them to their cabin, telling them to let him know if they needed anything. The moment he was gone, Loki locked the door and drew down all of the shades on the windows, looking around the narrow room.

Roe sat down and leaned back against the seat, heaving a big sigh. Her face was tinged red from their rushing about and her layers, and she tried to pull off her scarf with shaking fingers.

Loki knelt in front of her and undid the scarf easily, setting it on the seat beside her. He unbuttoned her coat and the jacket beneath it with adept fingers and pushed both over her shoulders and off, setting them with the scarf.

Placing his hands gently on her waist, he leaned forward and brought his lips to hers, kissing her softly. Roe breathed in deeply through her nose at the action and felt a small moan escaping her. She laid her hands on Loki's shoulders and gripped him there, beseeching him for more.

Loki, already feeling the warmth of desire spreading throughout him, pulled her forward on the seat and pressed her body against his. With him kneeling and her sitting, their faces were aligned, and as the train lurched to a start, they kissed as though it was their last chance to.

Loki deepened the kiss and slid his hands up the back of her shirt, raking his nails along her warm, soft skin. She gasped and pulled away for a moment, looking at the man before her. He thought she would ask him to stop, but she only moved her hands to the buttons of his shirt, undoing them quickly and pushing his shirt back.

He was free of the material in a moment and lifted her shirt over her head, tossing it behind him. He groaned when he realized she wore a bra, hating the things immensely, and fumbled with it for a moment before finally getting it undone. It went the way of her shirt.

Bare chest to bare chest, they continued heatedly, Roe feeling sensations she had never felt before. Loki's hands traveled over her torso, massaging her breasts and holding her against him. Her fingers worked at undoing his belt, his pants, and pushed them off of his hips. Loki stood and kicked them off, standing in only the tight black boxer briefs that he had been told to wear beneath his trousers.

He pulled Roe up to stand in front of him and she undid her own pants, shoving them off of herself hastily, making Loki smile lustfully. He scooped her up, in just her panties, and held her against himself, hands cupping her behind tightly. Roe wrapped her legs around his waist and felt his erection against her. She felt a blush rise to her cheeks and she looked away from him.

"What troubles you?" he asked, searching her face.

Roe bit her lip, and it was all Loki could do to not bite it along with her. "I've never done this before…I don't know what to do."

Loki smiled, and Roe could see some of the trickster that he was reputed to be. "Well then my lady, allow me to show you how it is done."

Roe laughed and he kissed her, laying her down across the seats. She shivered as his mouth worked its way down her body and gasped when his fingers entered her, both from surprise and pleasure. She closed her eyes and arched her back as he moved about with his mouth, making small noises that set his body ablaze.

She felt a pressure building in her abdomen, something she had never felt before, and then release so intense she moaned loudly. Loki clasped his hand over her mouth, laughing, and kissed her quivering lips.

He looked down at her intently. "We can stop if you want to, you do not have to continue for my sake." He worried he was rushing her, that she would regret it, and tried to see past his own desire.

Roe, her eyes dark with passion, pulled his face to her and kissed him. "I don't want to stop," she whispered breathily into his ear.

And they didn't, until they were curled up next to each other, exhausted and satisfied.


	14. Chapter 14

**I own nothing other than Roe, my story, and a very tired keyboard.**

**Sorry I haven't been updating as much or writing long chapters! I'm in the middle of a move and selling my car so things are a little hectic. Thank you for reading and reviewing, I love your feedback!**

14

Roe and Loki had traveled by train to Chicago and then, following the anxious decision to board a bus in their hotel room, had traveled to Wyoming, where they knew Napalm would be.

Loki could feel her nervousness coming off of her in waves, and he wished that he could better comfort her. His hand was never off of her body for more than a moment when they were together, and she clung onto him the entire bus ride and on the walk into a small, cheap motel once they had arrived.

Roe called Bruce at a pay phone outside their motel room.

"What did they say when you told them we'd gone?" she asked him, holding the phone cord tightly in her gloved hand.

"They were a little annoyed with you, and with me for helping you get out, but more so with Fury for keeping this from them. He's laying low to avoid a full-fledged mutiny."

Roe thought about this and smiled slightly, thinking of how her team always seemed to come together when they really needed to.

"How are you doing?" Bruce asked, concern in his voice.

Roe sighed. "I think I'm okay," she said, looking around the parking lot. Loki was just inside the room, but she was still anxious being alone in a strange place. The people there didn't know to avoid her, and she feared Napalm would already know they were there. "I'm happy that I'm not here alone."

Bruce, in his room in New York, rubbed his forehead and inwardly wished that things were different. "Is he treating you okay? I know he seems to, but does he?"

"Yeah, Dr. Banner, he really does."

"Bruce, Roe, how many times do I have to ask you to call me Bruce? If he didn't you could tell me."

Roe glanced at the window that looked into her room, where Loki was perched on the edge of the bed, reading the guest welcome binder. He looked like a human, though perhaps one who hadn't gotten out into the world much in recent years, and Roe smiled. When she had met him, she had thought him too proud to even consider Midgardians for conversation, let alone have what they had.

"He's very good Bruce. Why are you so worried?"

There was a long pause, and Roe wondered what he was thinking.

"I just…I don't trust him."

The phone indicated needing more money, but Roe didn't want to be outside anymore. "I have to go," she said. "I don't like being out here. I'll call tomorrow before we are going to the base. Will you all be here, behind us?" The very thought of facing the man who had ruined her life, who had taken so much from her and was threatening to take even more, made her stomach turn.

"Yeah, we will be there, we'll leave as soon as you call." Bruce's voice was weary, forlorn. Roe wondered if he'd been sleeping at all since they left.

"Thank you," she replied, and she took a deep breath. "And Bruce, I heard what Loki said in the hallway to you, just before I let you in…and I'm sorry, that I didn't know and that I'm not different."

The phone cut out before Bruce could answer, and Roe was happy for that. She didn't know how to handle any response he might have and as she put the phone into its cradle, she retreated into the relative safety of the motel room.

"And what did the good doctor have to say?" Loki asked, glancing up from him reading as she shut the curtain.

Roe sat beside him and he wrapped his arm around her, kissing her forehead. He didn't like how tense she was, how she wasn't sleeping properly and was constantly looking over her shoulder. He knew that though she had been sent in to kill many people, she had never faced battle in such a way, and wished Fury had better trained her nerves for it.

"They'll be coming as soon as I call in the morning," she replied tersely, and she flopped back onto the bed with a sigh. "And they're all mad at Fury, which makes them a little less mad at us."

Loki smiled and lay back on the bed with her. It wasn't the type of place he would have ever chosen to stay in, but with her it was passable, and he would make the best of their last certain night together. The thought of the following day going wrong plagued him, and he wished they had a better plan.

As he kissed her and pulled off her hat and scarf, Loki thought of how a month ago he would have actually considered giving her over to Napalm, in the pursuit of domination and rule. She had completely turned him around, made him see things differently, and he wondered if that was better. He felt happy, something that he hadn't felt for a very long time, and content to lay beside her. He thought to himself that he didn't need more, that he had the entirety of his purpose next to him in a cheap motel room, and that she was enough.

"Roe," he said, playing with her hair. "When this is all over, what do you think is going to happen to us?"

She shut her eyes and tried not to think about it at all. "I don't know," she said, imagining scenarios. "Maybe this will make up for the wrong you've done."

"And if it doesn't?" Loki asked, the question causing a knot to form in his stomach. He pictured himself back in his cell on Asgard, completely alone and with the thought of her plaguing his mind for centuries to come.

Roe shrugged. "Maybe they'll let me come with you."

He froze. "To prison? No."

"My life is already a prison," Roe said simply, and he supposed that was true. She had rarely left her room before he had come into her life, had spent countless hours in isolation. "At least I would be in prison with you. Can we go one more night without thinking of it?"

Loki sighed and nodded, rested his head in the space between her neck and shoulder. He lay his hand on her stomach beneath her layers and felt exhaustion washing over him.

Together, for their last night of relative peace, they fell asleep, both plagued by their own personal nightmarish futures.


	15. Chapter 15

**I own nothing other than Roe, my story, and three dogs that should be named after the Avengers.**

15

Roe woke up in Loki's arms the next day and for a brief moment, she forgot what she had to do. She snuggled into Loki's bare chest and sighed, wishing they never had to leave the room. Loki felt her stir and opened his eyes drowsily.

"Good morning my love," he said, pulling her closer to him. He kissed her forehead gently and stretched.

Roe froze at his greeting. His love? "Good morning," she replied stiffly.

"What is wrong? Are you anxious about today?" he asked, pushing her hair back out of her face.

She took a deep breath. "Loki…do you love me?" She drummed her fingers on his chest nervously.

Loki turned her face up to look at her and kissed her gently on the lips. "Roe, I can truly tell you that I have loved no one more in my entire existence. We have had but a short time together, but it has been the happiest time of my life."

Roe cupped his face with her hand, still astounded by her ability to touch him so readily, and kissed him deeply. She whispered that she loved him too and tried not to cry, knowing that that day could be their last.

"I'm afraid," she said. "What if we can't defeat him? What if the rest of them don't get here on time?"

"I will let no harm come to you, just ignore everything I say to the fool and trust me." Loki's voice was sure, and Roe couldn't help but feel comforted.

She sat up and threw the covers away, shivering slightly in her shorts and tank top. Loki followed, and the sight of him in just pajama pants made her want to climb back into bed and hide out until the danger was gone.

They showered together, enjoying their last moments of physical closeness and security before everything would be in upheaval. Loki dressed in his Asgardian garb, looking every bit the god he was, while Roe covered herself in layers upon layers, anxious to be around new people.

With one last touch on her face and a kiss on her lips, Loki pulled on leather gloves, knowing that Napalm needed to believe Roe could touch no one. He had to believe that his experiment had gone perfectly, and that Loki felt nothing for the young Avenger.

Roe was shaking slightly and Loki wrapped his arms around her. "Do not fret, it will be over soon. He is just another mad man."

She smiled slightly. "Like you were just another mad man?"

He kissed her on the tip of her nose. "I most certainly am still a mad man, but look at what it has given me. Come." He opened the motel door and they walked out of the room together, leaving their things behind.

Roe picked up the payphone and put money in, dialing Bruce's number. She was tense, not wanting to speak to him or to anyone, and the phone shook in her hand.

Loki pulled the phone from her hand and held it near his head, wary of the plastic. He smiled comfortingly down at Roe, who twisted the cord in her fingers.

"Roe?" Bruce said on the line, sounding as though he'd been running.

"Nearly," replied Loki flatly. "We are going now."

"Why isn't Roe calling?"

Loki let out a long, annoyed breath. "She is anxious."

"Can I talk to her?" Bruce asked, and Loki heard him calling out orders to someone in Manhattan.

Loki looked at Roe, the woman he loved, who looked every bit the nervous captor they were about to pretend she was. "No," he told Bruce. "I do not think she needs your goodbyes this morning Doctor. They are not necessary."

Bruce sighed and told Loki when they would arrive, that they would be right behind the two of them when the time was right. Loki hung up the phone and gave Roe a tight-lipped smile.

"Are you ready?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "No, but let's go anyway."

"Remember love, nothing I say or do is real. It is all just a trick."

Roe nodded and Loki looked around them. It was still early, and no one had seen them. He wondered if his outfit, his traditional Asgardian dress, would elicit unwanted attention, and cast an illusion upon himself of clothes he knew would help them blend in.

They began walking the few miles to where they knew Napalm's base was, and Loki put less distance between them as he went, eventually gripping her upper arm tightly.

They came upon a high gate, guards posted up at it, and Loki let the illusion of his human clothing fall. Upon seeing him, the guards shouted to open the gate and both Loki and Roe braced themselves for what was to come.

"Roe," he said out of the corner of his mouth. "I love you, do not let that thought leave your mind."

She nodded and let the tears in her eyes fall, knowing that the more afraid she seemed, the more likely they were to believe she was afraid of Loki.

The two of them walked into the compound, Loki leading and Roe following.


	16. Chapter 16

**I own nothing other than Roe, my story, and private writing clients that are taking up way too much of my time.**

16

Roe and Loki walked into the compound accompanied by soldiers dressed in tan fatigues and boots that covered them from neck to feet. They carried automatic guns against their chests and each had the same expression of stern disinterest on his face.

Roe was comforted by Loki's firm grip on her arm, knowing that though it was slightly painful, it was enough to make her feel brave. As they walked inside a large warehouse, he released her, and Roe wished he hadn't, knowing that she was unsteady without it. She tried to look sure of herself, but knew that she couldn't and just hoped that the doubt on her face looked like that of a captor.

They were brought through the large, cavernous interior of the warehouse and into a smaller, walled off area at the back. Roe looked up at Loki, whose face was hard. His jaw was clenched tightly and his eyes looked nowhere but straight ahead of him, and to Roe, he looked every bit the villain she had been told he was.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of a god's company?" said a voice at the far end of the room. It belonged to a tall, broad shouldered man with a bald head, scarred severely with burns. He turned around to face them and they saw that his cheeks were also marred with burns. He smiled broadly and Roe felt every hair on her body stand on end.

She knew that this was Napalm, the man who had changed her into the unfortunate monster she thought herself to be. He was the reason that her family was dead. He had taken everything from her. She felt fury building up in her chest and curled her fingers into fists, clenching her teeth painfully.

Loki seemed to feel heat rippling off of her and gave her the briefest look to remain calm. She took a deep breath and stared at the floor, trying to reign herself in. She had never been one with a temper, and was rarely brought to anger, so she had no idea what to do with the heat pulsating through her veins.

Loki spoke clearly, his voice lilting and secure. "The Avengers saw no reason to turn the girl over to you," he said, smiling. "I however, see many reasons to let you have her."

Napalm walked towards them, and Roe fought the urge to hide behind Loki. She had never been in actual combat before, only having gone in to assassinate targets while they unsuspectingly let their guards down with her, or passing them in a crowd. She had been trained a decade before how to fight, but never how to think when fighting.

The burned man before them stopped a few feet away from the pair and smiled at Loki, then down at Roe. He stepped in front of her and inspected her.

"Well, well, we finally are reunited," he said, clapping his hands together once before clasping them at his waist. "And what a beautiful little thing you've grown into."

Roe wanted to spit in his face, claw his eyes out. She didn't want him to die with one touch; she wanted it to be slow and painful. She looked up into his dark eyes and furrowed her brow, letting him see just how angry she was.

He laughed. "What's wrong Roe? Aren't you happy that I made you more than those around you? That I gave you the power to be your own person without fear of what anyone could do to you? Come on, you can speak."

Roe glanced over at Loki, whose face was passive. She knew he couldn't reveal his true emotions, but just a look gave her courage.

"I would have rather been left alone to be an average, powerless human being," she said, and nothing she had ever said had been truer. "I lost my family and all human contact because of you." That was true as well, as Loki wasn't a human.

"Oh, but you've gained so much my dear, who needs human contact?" He turned to Loki. "Was it difficult getting her here?"

Loki smirked deviously. "No, she is quite…pliable when under duress."

Napalm beamed at him. "And what are these reasons for bringing her to me that you mentioned?"

"Other than the obvious and necessary need for escape from those buffoons?" Loki asked, his voice a bored drawl. "I want to help you, and receive a share of the power in return."

Napalm scratched his chin in thought. "Hmm," he said. "I suppose that is a fair trade, though I don't know if just one little girl is worth all that I can give."

"What more can you give?" Loki asked, picking at his cuticles. It seemed that he was engaged in negotiations like these every day, and Roe wondered what came next.

Napalm smirked at him, a glint of narcissism in his eyes. "The world, god of mischief, I can give the world."

Loki laughed loudly. "With one girl and your small band of soldiers?"

"They are no ordinary soldiers," Napalm replied, looking at the men milling about the room with pride. "I have no room for the ordinary. These men are the continuation of my work that was...halted when Roe escaped. They confiscated my laboratory and burned it to the ground, but they could not stop the progress that was coming. These men are the result of a decade of perfecting the process, making it simple enough to replicate across genetic differences."

Roe looked around the room and felt her heart quickening. "These men…" she asked quietly. "They're all…like me?"

"Smart girl," Napalm said, his voice condescending. "You were step one, they are every step following."

She felt as though all of the breath in her lungs had disappeared, and she had to stop herself from grabbing Loki for support. It felt like a panic attack, every nerve in her body seizing up at what Napalm had just said. An army of people like her could kill a huge population in almost no time at all. They all seemed to be trained beyond their mutation, and she wondered how much damage each could do.

"Now," Napalm said, unclasping his hands. "I don't need help from someone with such faltering loyalty as yours, Loki Laufeyson. I have seen your disgusting self-preservation, your need to rule as the one and only lord of all. I have no room for you here." He nodded once to a soldier standing beside Loki, and the man reached up and set his fingers on the back of Loki's neck in one smooth motion. Loki dropped to the ground, his eyes wide and staring at the high ceiling.

"Not so immortal," Napalm mused, smirking at Loki's still body.

Roe looked down at him and tried to swallow the lump that was in her throat. He couldn't be dead; he was immune to the poison. There was no way he could be dead. She watched his chest, waiting for it to rise and fall, but there was no movement. She went to kneel down beside him, to touch him and make him snap out of what had to be temporary paralysis, but another soldier, who hauled her up against himself, caught her around her waist.

She thought she would cry, but no tears came. She thought she would scream, but no sound came. She just stared at Loki's body laying limp on the ground, her mouth hanging open in shock. She did not fight the man who held her, did not kick or hit as he carried her out of the room and into the blinding sun. He brought her into another building and locked her in a cell, his hand brushing against hers as he placed her onto the cot there.

It was the first human touch she had had in a decade without death following after, and Roe barely even felt it. She just wanted Loki to wake up.


	17. Chapter 17

**I own nothing other than Roe, my story, and the Chihuahua laying on my arm and keeping me from typing well.**

17

Roe sat on the cold floor, leaning against the wall behind her, and let her mind race with possibilities of what could be happening outside of her cell. She didn't cry over Loki, having convinced herself that he wasn't truly dead at all but merely pretending. Each time she felt a sob rising in her chest, she repeated this to herself and waited for there to be a sign of him.

The sound of a key grating against an old lock filled the space, and Roe looked up to see the door being opened by a soldier.

"The commander wants to see you," he said, waiting expectantly for her.

Roe stood slowly, not wanting to fight unnecessarily, and walked towards him. She put her bare hands into her pockets and hunched forward, following him with quiet steps.

He led her back into the room she had been in before, where Loki had collapsed. Napalm was there, sitting at the head of a long table laden with food.

"Ah, our guest of honor," he said, smiling and clapping his hands together. "Come, sit."

Roe sat opposite him as her chair was pulled out, and she felt numb from her head down to her feet. She glared at Napalm, who just smiled in return.

"Why the sour puss?" he asked, resting his chin on his hands, which were clasped in front of his face.

Roe said nothing.

"You can't be angry about that fake god's death can you? He brought you here, turned you in. I did you a favor."

Roe said nothing, knowing that showing her affection for Loki would not help anything. She wondered where the rest of the team was.

Taking a deep breath, she finally spoke. "I don't like being held against my will," she said, removing her hat and dropping it on the floor.

Napalm chuckled. "This is just temporary my dear, unlike that filthy organization's treatment of you."

"What do you plan to do with me?" Roe's jaw hurt from clenching her teeth together in anger.

"Do with you? I plan on setting you free dear, quite unlike your imprisonment of the last ten years." He started pulling food onto his plate. "Eat, eat. Try the steak, it is astounding."

"I'm vegan," Roe replied flatly. She didn't want a single bite of that man's food, though she was very, very hungry. "I haven't been imprisoned, I've been safe."

Napalm laughed at this. "Safe, in a prison. Only being let out when they could use you."

"You're using me. Using me to get them here and god knows what else."

Napalm hit his palms on the top of the table, shaking it and making Roe jump. "I made you, I can do whatever I please with you."

Roe's jaw was cramping painfully now, holding back all of the words she wanted to say. She wanted to lunge across the table and kill the man, cut his throat with the steak knife he held in his hand. She took a deep breath to steady herself.

"You aren't going to win this," she said calmly, surely. "They've taken on bigger threats than you."

Mouth full of food, Napalm smiled toothily at her. "They don't even know what the real threat is," he replied smoothly.

Roe pondered at this as a guard walked quickly over to the table and leaned into Napalm's ear to speak quietly.

"What do you mean, the body's missing?" Napalm asked angrily, setting down his utensils heavily onto the table. "How could a corpse be missing?"

Roe's head shot up. Loki. It had to be Loki. She looked around the room and her eyes landed on the guard who had brought her in. He winked at her and put a finger to his lips.

"Bring her back to her cell," Napalm commanded.

The guard walked forward and pulled her up with a firm grip on her upper arm. She tried to keep a calm face as she walked out of the room, out of the building, before him, and her skin was absolutely tingling when they arrived back in her cell.

She spun on her heel once they were inside. "Loki?" she asked, her heart pounding in her chest.

His face flashed into focus then returned to being the guard's. "You didn't think a silly little touch could kill me, did you?" he asked, smirking at her.

She looked around and clasped his hand in hers. "I was a little worried."

"I cannot stay, I must keep up this oafish façade for a while longer. Here," he handed her a thin knife, which she immediately stowed inside her layers. "I will be back for you soon love, as soon as my brother and those other imbeciles arrive."

His face flashed back again, and he kissed her quickly on the mouth. "Those lips are for none but me," he said, returning to the soldier's face. He smirked at her and left the cell, locking her in.

Roe sat down in the corner of the cell with a small smile on her lips, and she brushed her fingers over them. She settled into waiting and sighed.


End file.
